Shinnen
by Delas
Summary: Before the Chuunin Exam, as the power struggles errupt between Konoha and it's enemies, the preparation for war begins. With Orochimaru flexing his influence, it all rides on the talent and faith the best of Konoha have to offer. KakaIru friendship.
1. Ichiban, Niban, Saishuu Ayamari

**A Naruto Fan-fiction.**** Feel free to archive, but inform me that you are doing so.**

**Comments/concerns/constructive criticism you can leave by review and/or email me at my hotmail account, which is DelasNerothos.**

**Spoilers: the Wave Country and the Chuunin Exam.**

**This is not yaoi or shonen-ai. This is friendship. Take it or leave it.**

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**Shinnen**

By Delas

_"What on earth do you hope to achieve?"_

_"I want to obtain all the jutsu and gain a true understanding of everything in this world… the first person to mix blue and yellow named the new color that was created green… I only want to do the same thing. If blue is the chakra and yellow is the seal, and green is the jutsu… just as there is no end to the variety of colors, there are so many thousands… tens of thousands of jutsu in the world as well… but in order to obtain every possible jutsu and truth, it would require an eternity, you see… only the one who understands everything after spending such time on this can be fittingly called the 'Ultimate Being'."_

_-Orochimaru_

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_Chapter 1: Ichiban, Niban, Saishuu Ayamari_

"**D**o you ever stop reading that?" Iruka asked Kakashi, eyeing his copy of _Icha__ Icha Paradise_. He had offered the group ramen in celebration of their return from the Water Country. Naruto had practically died on the spot, while Kakashi had just shrugged and said that he'd 'think about it.' Sasuke claimed he had better things to do, and since Sasuke wasn't going, Sakura didn't want to go. So it was just Iruka, Naruto, and Kakashi. The day had dawned beautiful, the sun rising in its lazy course above the earth and into the sky. The breeze was fresh and a little cold, which made lunches indoors all the more comfortable and welcome. So Iruka had shown up quite early, content to order warm tea to melt away the slight chill of the day.

Kakashi had shown up an hour late.

"…nope." Kakashi answered lazily, one hand supporting his head and the other holding the book open on the counter. There was a pleasant dull buzz of people and conversation behind them as citizens wandered up and down the streets. On this particular day, there was no one at Ichiraku, leaving them with a nice sense of privacy, while still being in an open area. Next to Kakashi was a bowl of ramen, still full and steaming. Iruka had previously been staring at him out of the corner of his eye, hoping to catch of glimpse of the Jounin's face, but Kakashi had yet to make a move towards his lunch.

"What's it about?" he asked curiously, staring over Kakashi's shoulder and straining to get a look. He thought he had a fair idea, from what Naruto had told him. He caught a glimpse of the open page. His eyes stared down at the book for a moment, before what he was seeing sunk in.

"AGH!" He cried and withdrew, his cheeks burning and a look of mild shock on his face. Honestly, he hadn't been expecting something different, but it didn't fail to surprise him that Kakashi would read a novel like that out in public.

"… That was just the illustration." Kakashi answered, not bothering to look up. He was staring at his book intensely. Underneath the mask, where no one could see, Kakashi had a small smile on his face. He choked down a laugh.

"Oh I wanna see! Can I see it Iruka-sensei??" Naruto asked excitedly, glancing up from his ramen.

Iruka's expression quickly changed to scandalized. "NO! And if I catch you even _thinking_ about that book I'll--"

"Now Iruka, Naruto can't help being curious." Kakashi chided, finally glancing up at Iruka and raising his only visible eyebrow.

Iruka eyed him.

Kakashi eyed him back.

They held the gaze, then Iruka snorted and turned away. He picked up his chopsticks and began eating his ramen, pointedly ignoring his companions.

Naruto also turned happily back to his ramen but after a minute or two when he happened to look over, he noticed Kakashi gesturing frantically at him behind Iruka's back.

Curious, Naruto leaned back from the counter and stared at Kakashi, making a 'what?' gesture with his hands. He watched as Kakashi glanced furtively around the room before brandishing the book he was holding in his hands. Naruto stared at the open page.

"WOAH!" Naruto shouted and grabbed frantically for the book. "Let me see that!"

Iruka choked on the noodles he was eating and whirled around. He took the grinning Kakashi, and Naruto's wide eyes in with one glance.

Kakashi's eyes widened slightly as Iruka stood up and rounded on him, glaring daggers. Perhaps I've overstepped some boundaries, Kakashi mused to himself as he stood up as well.

"Now now Iruka, lets talk about this…" he said, backing up and holding his hands up as a shield, his eyes deceptively merry.

Naruto glanced from Iruka and Kakashi to the ramen Iruka and Kakashi had left on the counter. He looked slyly around the room before grabbing the ramen and frantically eating it, completely ignoring the impending disaster. Ramen took precedent over dirty magazines.

"Really Iruka, it's no big deal. It's not like it's anything we haven't seen before! Naruto does that Sexy no Jutsu all the time! Think of this as practice!" Kakashi argued. He could tell his arguments weren't going over very well, for Iruka merely snarled at him and advanced, a shuriken in hand that Kakashi had missed being drawn. Yet there, appearing and disappearing so quickly that for a moment he wasn't sure he had seen it. But yes, there, the corners of his mouth had twitched, he was sure of it.

Kakashi caught the beginnings of the smile on Iruka's face and nearly laughed, feeling an almost misplaced humor in seeing someone so obviously pissed, yet slightly amused at either themselves or everything else at the same time. Iruka was enjoying himself just as much as he was! A twisted humor, perhaps, but humor none the less. And that sort of humor never failed to earn Kakashi's grudging respect. Especially coming from someone as… well, he couldn't think of the proper word he wanted, since he hadn't quite classified the man standing before him yet. He settled for thinking of him simultaneously as bother predictable yet unpredictable, despite the contradictions that caused.

He almost thought of this as a sort of game, a way to test out someone he knew nothing about. He didn't make it a habit to rush headlong into things he didn't fully understand. Stand back, take stock of the situation, gather information. That's what a shinobi would do. So, naturally, Kakashi decided to do the exact opposite.

In a very obvious motion Kakashi slowly brought his hands in front, and, an almost impish gleam in his eye, with two fingers from each hand, formed a cross. There was a moment when Iruka stared at him, clearly puzzled, but realization soon dawned almost comically on his face. His features twisted in apprehension.

"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" Kakashi focused his chakra, his hands forming the seal, and created several dozen clones of himself. They filled the small area of Ichiraku and overflowed over the counter. The old man working there looked slightly miffed and waved his ladle at Kakashi angrily. All the Kakashi's merely grinned at the old man and waved.

Iruka halted his advance and frowned at the clones.

"That's hardly fair." He complained, and his eyes searched those of the man standing before him, but found no response.

The Kakashi clones shrugged, as one.

"Catch me if you can." They taunted lazily, all their voices combined gave the dare an almost ethereal quality to it. And as one, they all leapt from their positions and scrambled around the area faster than the eye could see, swiftly and deftly never touching anything, effectively shuffling themselves before coming to a halt, scattered around the ramen shop. However, in the flurry, the clones also knocked over Naruto's bowl of ramen. That was mistake number one.

"Oi!" Naruto shrieked at the top of his lungs. The Kakashi's visibly winced. Naruto rounded on Kakashi in anger, his eyes gaining a dangerous feral glint that made Kakashi realize that perhaps he had overstayed his welcome.

And now he was faced with two very offended shinobi, who made it a habit to carry sharp and dangerous objects, and at least one of them could probably throw shuriken almost as good as he could. The day was just getting brighter and brighter.

"Well," the Kakashi's said lightly, "I realize I'm late for a rather important thing I was supposed to be doing today. If you don't mind, I think I'll just take my leave…" he started to edge away.

"Oh no you don't!" Naruto and Iruka yelled together and made a leap for the Jounin. Kakashi took that as a cue to start running, and all the clones dashed away.

"Damnit!" Iruka and Naruto snarled.

"I refuse to let him get away!" Naruto declared. "Nobody gets away with wasting free ramen while I'm around!" He struck a pose that he thought probably looked very cool. Iruka rolled his eyes.

"First of all, Naruto, that was _my_ money that paid for the ramen, so it wasn't free."

Naruto waved his hand dismissively, as if he couldn't be bothered with such minor details. "Same thing, Iruka-sensei."

Iruka's eyebrow twitched, but he decided to save the argument for later. "Secondly, Naruto, if we're going to catch him, we have to do this logically."

Scratching his head, Naruto asked, "Logically? You mean like making a plan? That takes too long."

A sigh escaped from Iruka's mouth. In a patient voice, Iruka explained. "Yes, Naruto, we need a plan, despite your obviously misplaced misgivings. You can't wander around the village and expect to find Kakashi just walking down the street. He's going to go somewhere to lay low. Now what I need to find out is, where would he go to avoid being found?

"Sakura says she usually finds him in a tree reading his books."

With a long-suffering sigh, Iruka sat down on one of the stools. "We just HAVE to live in a village completely surrounded by endless trees, don't we? Look, Naruto, just tell me where you would go to buy a dirty magazine."

Naruto instantly perked up. "Oh, I know where that is!" He grinned triumphantly. Faster than lightning, Iruka came up behind him and gave him a solid whack upside the head.

"And how would you know where that is?!" Iruka yelled at him.

Naruto clutched at his bruised head. "Ai, I just heard about it! I've never been there before!"

"Liked I'd believe something as stupid as that." said Iruka. "But for now…" Iruka inwardly winced, "take me there."

Naruto, sulking, obeyed.

And that was mistake number two.

They left Ichiraku, Iruka throwing down some money on the counter to avoid talking to the irate cook. They took off down the streets, Iruka trailing behind a reluctant Naruto, who kept glancing back at him as if he half hoped Iruka would disappear if he kept looking. Iruka, for the most part, remained silent. He was thinking over the morning, recalling how wonderful it had felt to be outside. The day had cooled off a bit, sending chilling breezes wafting down the streets, but when Iruka stared up at the sky, he was met with a clear vibrant blue. Iruka found himself smiling.

The pair soon arrived at a darker run-down part of town, where the less respectable businesses resided. It was a part of the city characterized by clogged gutters and bars over the windows. At least two of the buildings they passed were burned down; most of the buildings had vulgar graffiti on the walls. The streets were littered with trash and refuse, and there were dark and narrow alleys a-plenty. Naruto and Iruka quietly walked down the street, their footsteps the only sound that echoed down the road. Iruka felt his hands straying towards his shuriken holder on his leg. Naruto was looking in the store windows with wide eyes.

And there, standing across the street in front of a brothel crudely disguised as a massage parlor, was a hooker whose job it obviously was to catch business. Upon spotting Iruka, she fairly squealed with delight and raced across the street, her long luxurious black hair fanning out behind her. The wind caught her scant clothes as she ran, blowing them aside to reveal her bare chest. She jumped up onto the sidewalk, where she promptly latched onto Iruka's arm.

"Hey gorgeous, are you looking for a good time tonight?" she asked in a velvety voice. Her eyes flitted up to his face, where she took in his dropped jaw without missing a beat. "I'll give you a discount for that pretty face of yours." She purred. Iruka looked shocked into inaction, and stood there while the woman traced a finger along the scar across his nose.

"N-No thanks, I'm not here for- for that…" Iruka stammered, feeling the woman press herself up against him, feeling a blush rise in his cheeks.

Naruto, however, saw this as an opportunity to weasel his way out of his punishment for knowing where the dirty shop was. Nonplussed by the sight of a beautiful woman pressed against the less than willing Chuunin, Naruto thought this would be the best time to undermine Iruka's concentration. Not that Iruka would ever fall for that, but it was always worth a shot.

He tugged on the translucent fabric of the lady's shirt. "Excuse me, perverted woman, but where can we find a place to buy dirty books?"

The woman turned her head towards Naruto, as if just noticing him for the first time. "Oh, I know _just_ the place!" Her voice, if possible, grew even more soft, velvety, and seductive. Her hands began to travel down Iruka's chest as she spoke. Iruka looked very nervous, because it didn't look like the woman's hands were going to have any regard for decency. "I'm sure you boys will love it, it's got everything a dirty-minded individual could ever want. And they have a back room for couples who want some… alone time." The hands continued their way down slowly. Iruka yelped and wiggled out of the woman's grasp.

"If you could take us there, we'd appreciate it." Iruka said firmly, his cheeks still burning.

The hooker frowned at Iruka's apparent disregard for her offer, but after a moment beckoned them to follow her. She led the way to a small shop two blocks away. It displayed bright neon letters that christened the store as 'Ero Paradise'. Iruka groaned, and reluctantly opened the door to the shop to peek inside. He took one glance inside, then quickly and firmly slammed the door shut.

"Naruto, I forbid you to enter. Wait outside." Iruka ordered.

Naruto, for his part, looked absolutely devastated. "Aw, come on Iruka-sensei!"

There would be no budging Iruka. With a dangerous look, Naruto quieted, and sat down with his back against the front window, his arms folded across his chest, his lip in a pout. Iruka, making sure that Naruto wasn't going to follow him, opened the door to the shop, and made sure to slam the door shut in the hookers face. Miffed, but not willing to give up, the hooker sat down next to Naruto to wait.

Naruto eyed the hooker.

The hooker eyed Naruto.

Meanwhile, in the shop, Iruka had no trouble at all spotting Kakashi browsing through the perverted books along one of the walls. It seemed like Lady Luck was smiling down on Iruka today… for the most part. When the bell above the door rang, Kakashi looked up and his heart sank.

"Oh, hi Iruka." He said nonchalantly.

"Don't 'hi, Iruka' me!" Iruka yelled. "I've come to settle this!"

"Why, whatever could you be referring to, dear Iruka?"

"I'm talking about your rampant disregard for decency, especially around Naruto."

_Is that really what it's about, Iruka?_ A small voice in the back of his mind asked.

Kakashi cocked an eyebrow. "I didn't know you've been appointed as Naruto's guardian. In my opinion, he's old enough to decide for himself what he opens himself up to."

Iruka could feel his ears burning and he felt a familiar anger stir in his chest. He had met people before who regarded his interest in Naruto with scorn. He had seen it in the eyes of his fellow teachers, of the parents of his students. He had seen it in the eyes he saw in the mirror.

"Naruto doesn't have a guardian, Kakashi-sempai. I think I'm as close to being his guardian as anyone is going to get. And until he tells me otherwise, I don't see where you get off telling me to stop."

Kakashi seemed to stare at him thoughtfully. But in reality Iruka could see that eye of his searching him, as if he didn't believe in Iruka's honesty. And for some reason, this seemed to stir a deep anger within Iruka. But he also felt at odds with it when he gazed back into Kakashi's eyes.

When his eyes met those of Kakashi, there wasn't any trace of the scorn he was used to. Instead, there seemed to be something else, something like kinship, or even understanding. This didn't meet with what he had expected. His original anger at Kakashi was evening out into something a lot more calmer and rational.

"But that's why we're here, isn't it." Kakashi said. It wasn't a question.

Iruka wanted to say no, but found that he couldn't remember the original reason he gotten angry at Kakashi at Ichiraku. He had a fair idea it had less to do with the book than it did with Kakashi himself.

And now, standing in the middle of a dirty, shoddy store in a part of town only drunks and perverts frequented, there was a feeling of _why the hell not?_ that prompted him to say something in response. Something he wouldn't normally say. He felt words wanting to be spoken. He had been keeping them pent up, hidden inside of himself. He had his rationale all worded out, had decided long ago how he would explain himself. Faced with Kakashi in a situation as ridiculous as it was serious, he felt those words loosening, and his voice lowered, becoming more serious, firm. The words came, and nothing Iruka had originally planned to say emerged. Instead, new words flowed out, ones that had been hidden in some part of his heart. Even he was a bit surprised at what came out.

"I know that I'm not Naruto's parent, or even his guardian." He began. And he knew his words to be true even as he said them. "I'm just his teacher, and I've taught him all he needs to learn to move on. I'm a past part of his life." Here, he spread his arms to add feeling to his words. "Slowly, little by little, he'll loose all need for me. He'll come to me less often; he'll consult others with his problems. He'll become more independent, he will loose all need for the precious person of his childhood, just as I have long since discarded my teachers."

Iruka's body shifted, and he stood straighter, firmer, and his lips were an even line. "But before those days come, I'm trying like hell to give him memories of what it's like to be governed by a parent. I want him to remember that when he was a child, there was someone there to tell him what's bad and what's good, what's allowed and what isn't."

Kakashi was quiet.

"I know it's probably not my place, but I know what it's like to look back and know you missed out on some essential part of living. I know what's it's like to be given a beginning, but not an ending. All I'm doing is giving Naruto that ending, that memory of someone he could compare with, rebel against, someone to gain wisdom and advice from, to use and cast away, as all children do. You can have him when I'm done, Kakashi, but for now, I'm the only parent he has. All I'm asking is that you respect that." Iruka fell silent.

_How had the conversation come to this? _he wondered briefly.

There was a moment of silence. Iruka waited for the comeback. And then it came. Kakashi's voice was cold, curt, and his eye betrayed nothing of what he felt.

"You are correct, it is not your place to decide what Naruto does with his life. It's no one's place. This village has forfeited all rights it ever had over that child, you included. I don't know why you've grown attached to Naruto. My best guess is you're trying to prove to yourself that you're strong enough to live with the thing that murdered your parents, that your will is firm enough to push aside your hatred and be a friend, a parent to the one child that everyone shuns."

Iruka stiffened. He opened his mouth to reply, but nothing emerged. He wanted to deny it, but the words seemed to sink to his core, and he could find no denial. The words rang horribly true.

"But I'm not cold-hearted, Iruka. I realize Naruto's need for a governing figure in his life. And I suppose this is the time where you and I fight for the right to be that governing figure. For now, I'll let your rule be his law. However, both you and I realize that won't last for long. You're no longer his teacher. I am."

Iruka bowed his head, feeling a vast emptiness at those words, but he found himself nodding. "Fine." He whispered softly.

"Well, now that everything is decided on, I've got a large number of educating magazines to impart on to our young energetic Genin, since you won't mind now." Kakashi declared cheerfully, and scooped up a huge pile of magazines off the rack.

Iruka's head shot up, his eyes dangerous. The serious mood hanging in the air lessened a degree.

"Oh dear, there's too many for me to take! Looks like I'll need some extra hands. Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" Gleefully, a dozen Kakashi clones appeared and picked up some more magazines. A few from the group separated to pick up a few more items from around the store.

Fists clenched, Iruka stood there, wanting desperately to act, but finding himself unable—or unwilling—to move to stop him.

"Hey, Iruka, is that a hooker I see outside with Naruto?" came a curious query from one of the clones standing by the front window.

And that was the third and final mistake.

Kakashi leaned back as a kunai sped past his face. Iruka rushed at him, but didn't look as pissed off as Kakashi would expect him to be. On the contrary, Iruka looked remarkable calm.

"I'll teach you not to mock me!" Iruka growled at him.

"Well then, I suppose this is the part where you and I fight and I—" His words were cut off as a kunai imbedded itself in his chest, and the Kakashi clone exploded into smoke.

Quick as lightning, the Kakashi clones shuffled themselves around the shop, this time taking care not to knock over anything else. Iruka tried to follow them with his eyes, but realized the futileness of it when he didn't know which one was the original anyway.

"Catch me if you can." The clones taunted once again when they stopped moving.

Iruka snorted. "If it's a game you want, then it's a game you'll get. Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" With a burst of chakra, Iruka created his own real-body clones.

Looks like Iruka is a little more knowledgeable then what I predicted, Kakashi mused to himself. His battle-oriented mind worked over this new source of information. Not surprising, really. Kage Bunshin is relatively easy for someone who has mastered the Bunshin. No, no surprise at all. But Iruka only created three, as compared to my dozen.

The four Iruka dashed away around the shop. Kakashi, who was not paying attention, cursed when he missed which one was the real one. He didn't want to use the Sharingan, because it was an unneeded stress on his chakra. He relaxed, however, when one of the Iruka's darted forward, kunai in hand, and slashed at one of the Kakashi clones. It disappeared in a cloud of smoke. The Iruka clone stared, chagrined, then turned on the nearest clone, which also disappeared. Kakashi watched gleefully as the Iruka clone looked frustrated. The other Iruka clones were moving around the room, cornering the Kakashi clones and slashing with kunai or throwing shuriken, only to have the Kakashi clones dart out of the way, laughing.

A clone came at him and, laughing, Kakashi shifted out of the way. At his laugh, the other Iruka clones paused for a moment, their heads tilted to the side like a dog that had just heard a sharp whistle. As one, the three clones turned towards Kakashi, a grin on their faces.

"You." They said together.

Kakashi had a second to feel confused when, suddenly, ice cold steel pressed up against his vulnerable neck. He stiffened, cursing his carelessness. He felt someone press up against his back, and a low voice whispered in his ear, "You were careless." He froze as the kunai increased its pressure. The three Iruka clones had no problem finishing up the Kakashi clones, as each clone had stopped moving, all their attention fixed on the kunai at his neck.

"I suppose this makes me the winner then." Iruka whispered, and the kunai moved away. The Iruka clones disappeared in a plume of smoke. Kakashi turned around, his eyes locking with Iruka's.

He thought he caught a glint of something in those eyes then, like he was caught in a vast well of images, that the pupils he were staring at were pulling at him. But the impression was gone as soon as it appeared, and Kakashi gave it no thought.

He bent over in a mock bow, his arm sweeping wide dramatically. "Alas, Iruka, you have proved to be my better this day. Naruto's innocence is untainted. At least, as untainted as Naruto's innocence can be. I fear whatever innocence Naruto previously had is, by now, quite… shattered." Kakashi held up his hands defensively. "Sorry, just pointing out the obvious."

Iruka laughed and all traces of anger vanished as if they had never been. "A part of me knows that you're right. I guess it's rather pointless of me to try and keep him away, huh?"

"Well, I wouldn't call it _pointless_. It strikes me more as _futile_ than anything else."

Iruka's eyes fixated on him. "Kakashi, are you always so… so…"

"Charming? Daring? Handsome? Wise? Omni-potent?"

"Well, I was going for infuriating, but if it makes you feel better…"

"Please, don't humor me. You think I'm annoying, don't you?" Kakashi's shoulders slumped. He looked the picture of dejected.

Iruka laughed, and a hand set itself on Kakashi's shoulder. A consoling smile spread across Iruka's face. But before he could say anything, Kakashi pointed out the front window.

"Uh, I hate to ask, but is that Naruto I see walking _away_ with that hooker?"

Iruka leapt to his feet and was out the front door in the time it took Kakashi to blink. Kakashi sat there, staring at the door that was still swinging wildly on its hinges. The clerk at the front counter had long since abandoned his post for the safety of the back room. With a satisfied smile, Kakashi stood, grabbed a copy of Icha Icha Violence, and darted out the front door after Iruka.

* * *

(Delas, using a dramatic booming voice) 

"And so it begins."


	2. Osoraku

"You can live a lifetime and, at the end of it, know more about other people than you know about yourself."

Beryl Markham

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_Chapter 2: Osoraku_

**I**ruka trudged down the dark street, Naruto asleep on his back and Kakashi drifting at his side. They had long since passed from the run down streets and back into the respectable part of town. After rescuing Naruto from the hooker (Iruka pointedly ignoring the smirk on Kakashi's face), they had decided that all involved had had quite enough fun for the day. It was mutually decided to call it a night. And so there they were, walking down the street side by side. Iruka said nothing and Kakashi made no attempts to strike up a conversation. The silence was marginally comfortable, or at least it was to Iruka. Iruka often found it hard to read the fellow instructor. He wished, for more than the first time that day, that he could reach up with his hands and gently pull the mask away, gaze at the face underneath. Iruka's fingers twitched in spite of themselves and he silently berated himself for his lack of self-control. He snuck a glance at his silent companion and was considerably startled to find him gazing back at him.

"It's been a long night." Kakashi remarked. He yawned, as if emphasizing his point.

Iruka was forced to agree. The night certainly hadn't been like anything he had expected to happen when he invited Team 7 and their instructor out for some ramen. He had only expected Naruto to show, but it had been a pleasant surprise to have Kakashi show up, albeit a bit late, as per usual. A confrontation between himself and the Jounin instructor had been completely unexpected, but Iruka was glad it had happened. That distance between the two of them had lessened somewhat, and Iruka felt he at least had a faint idea about Kakashi, as compared to his previous total ignorance.

Only these guys, Iruka thought to himself, would make a day so spontaneous and unpredictable.

"Iruka, since we've already breached the subject of being a parental figure to Naruto, I figure now would be a good time to fill you in on a few things." Kakashi said. As Iruka turned his eyes toward him, he saw Kakashi's body shift stance, so he appeared to be guarded, uneasy. Unable to read Kakashi's face, Iruka constantly found himself looking elsewhere for clues to Kakashi's emotions.

Iruka, for the most part, was willing to continue their earlier conversation from Ero Paradise. It was, so far, the only time Iruka and Kakashi had _talked_ with each other for such length, and with such honestly. He had caught a glimpse of a serious Kakashi, a Kakashi that aroused his curiosity. He greatly desired to speak with that Kakashi once more. He was getting tired though, he could feel his eyelids protesting at being kept open, and he was beginning to get a headache. He had to shake himself mentally to prepare himself for what he figured to be an engaging conversation.

"What kind of things?" Iruka inquired. He shifted Naruto's weight on his back. He's getting older, and heavier, Iruka thought distantly.

"The Wave Country." Kakashi began. "You knew about our mission there, correct?"

Iruka wracked his tired brain for a moment, before remembering. "Escorting someone, wasn't it?"

Kakashi's head bobbed up and down in assent. "An old man named Tazuna. I'm sure you remember him."

A mental picture of the old man appeared in Iruka's head. He had a perfect image of the bridge builder leaning against the doorframe, a bottle of alcohol dangling from his hand, not asking but _demanding_ an escort, the words emerging from his mouth slurred, yet forceful. Iruka smiled faintly. "Yes, I remember him."

"He was a builder from the Wave Country, attempting to construct a bridge between his home town and the neighboring island. The mission was originally to escort him safely back to his country and protect him from thieves and brigands. Sounded simple enough, definitely something Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura could handle, and it was something more exciting and dangerous than the boring missions they had been handed." he said, and then paused.

"However, assassins were sent after Tazuna. They were fortunately low-level, and Sasuke dealt with them, admirably I might add. After having a talk with Tazuna I discovered he had lied to us about the difficulty of the mission in order to decrease the amount of money he would have to pay."

Iruka frowned. "That happens more often than we'd like." Iruka always found himself annoyed and frustrated when he received the mission reports from people who were given easy assignments, yet returned with a few extra scars because customers didn't want to pay more money.

"Who was hiring the assassins?" he asked.

"I'm not sure you've heard of him. His name was Gato."

Iruka shifted. "_The_ Gato? Of course I know about him. I'm not an idiot, you know. Supposedly the 'richest man in the world'. He appears to be an honest businessman on the surface, but underneath he is responsible for a great deal of the drugs and contraband being exported from the Mist Country. He's been quite busy lately, securing his place in the Water Country."

Kakashi laughed, one hand scratching the back of his head. "Yes, I should have known you'd know. Sorry. Didn't mean to make it sound like I thought you were ignorant."

"Forget it. I wasn't the Chuunin assigned to reading _your _mission report, so there was no reason for you to think I did know. You were saying?"

Kakashi smiled to himself at the sometimes almost painfully polite Iruka, but the smile vanished as quick as it had come, and he continued. "Along the way, we encountered a shinobi named Zabuza."

Iruka heard himself gasp. "The Devil of the Hidden Mist?" he asked, even though he already knew the answer.

Kakashi nodded. "You've heard of him. The missing-nin who attempted a coup 'de tat of the Mist Country and failed in an assassination attempt of the Mizukage."

"He's in the Bingo Book."

"Then you know that he is– was— almost on the same level as myself.

"But that wasn't what was really important. What was important was the fact that he had a young boy with him, a shinobi named Haku."

Iruka mulled the name over in his mind, but didn't recognize it. "I've never head of him. What's his surname?"

"I don't know. All I know is that Haku, a native to the Mist Country, possessed an Advanced Bloodline."

Iruka shifted. "There were several families in the Mist Country with an Advanced Bloodline. They were mostly eradicated by the people after several bloody civil wars."

Kakashi nodded. "Like all those with an Advanced Bloodline, he was feared and hated, regarded as one who causes war and death." Here Kakashi took a deep, silent breath. His words betrayed nothing of his emotions.

"He was powerful, someone that could have easily surpassed me in time. I feared that perhaps he was too powerful, that maybe I couldn't protect everyone because I wasn't strong enough to fight them both at the same time." Kakashi's voice suddenly became hard, biting. Iruka could tell the fact of his own weakness bothered Kakashi. "So I took on Zabuza, and Haku fought with Sasuke and Naruto. Sakura protected Tazuna."

Iruka remained silent. He could still feel Naruto asleep on his back, his chest rising and falling evenly, his faint breath brushing up against his cheek.

Kakashi continued speaking, his voice evening out into a deep monotone. As he spoke, his sentences were clipped, fact-like, distant. His eyes, which earlier had been fixed on Iruka, now stared straight ahead into the distance, staring but not seeing. His hands were tucked away in his pockets.

"Iruka… during the fight, Sasuke was severally injured. Almost dead. Naruto believed he was, at any rate, and fought with Haku on his own. Haku… Haku fought for his precious person, for Zabuza. I'm sure you realize what a driving power that is."

Iruka nodded, but Kakashi couldn't see it.

"I didn't watch the fight. I was too busy dealing with Zabuza. But I could hear it, clear as day, every word they spoke to one another. I wanted to tell you, Iruka, what that fight meant to Naruto. And I'm not telling you because you need to know, but because I _want _you to know. And I want you to know that Haku was dangerous for Naruto, in the fact that they were alike. Haku, a beautiful, brilliant young man, fighting with all his heart and sole for the one man among all the others who took him in, cared for him, made him into someone. But Zabuza was a twisted man, and used Haku's love to turn him into a tool, a blade for Zabuza to use when needed, and when it was broken he could cast it away. Haku realized this, spoke of his experience to Naruto, and told him what it meant to be a shinobi, something Naruto had not yet realized."

Kakashi spoke a practiced line, what Iruka instantly recognized as Shinobi Saying #25. He had taught it to every child that passed through his classroom door. "No matter what happens, a true shinobi must never, ever show their emotions. The mission is the only priority. Carry that in your heart. And never, never shed a tear.

"Naruto finally realized what it was to become a shinobi. We are merely tools. You either use, or be used. Your friends die around you, you kill because you are told to. It is a harsh life. Naruto didn't get it then, but when he met Haku, he finally understood. Haku told him 'when you fight for your precious person, that is when you become truly strong.' Holding Sasuke's body, that's when Naruto realized what a shinobi is.

"In a rage, under the influence of a depth of emotion he was unfamiliar with controlling, Naruto began to draw on the power of the demon fox sealed within himself."

Iruka could feel his entire body go rigid, his eyes widen, his fists clench. The idea that Naruto not only contained the demon fox, but could _use _the demon fox, sent a tremor of fear and loathing through him. Naruto stirred on his back, and despite himself Iruka shied away. _He actually used the Kyuubi's chakra_, Iruka thought to himself, and could scarcely believe it.

Kakashi, unaware of Iruka's inner battle, continued. "Haku begged for death from Naruto. Haku existed for the sole purpose of being Zabuza's tool. Zabuza was the one person in all the world who acknowledged Haku as a person. But when Haku was faced with the demon's power within Naruto, he knew he couldn't win. He begged for death, he knew that without victory, he lost Zabuza, and without Zabuza he was nothing. And because of the death of Sasuke, Naruto was willing to grant Haku that death. They connected, Naruto and Haku. They were so similar. Both escaped from the hell called loneliness. Both had a precious person close to their heart. They were both powerful, both shinobi. They were both hated and feared for something they could not control."

Here, Kakashi's voice grew quiet. "Haku ended up dying by my hands. He put himself between Zabuza and me. He died, because he believed that Zabuza would have no use for a weak shinobi. And if Zabuza no longer needed him, his sole reason for existing would disappear as if it never were."

Kakashi, his face black and emotionless, faced Iruka and stared deep into his eyes. Iruka was so captured that he found he couldn't even blink, couldn't open his mouth to speak. They were the eyes of a person who had seen this a thousand times before, the eyes of a tired hardened man. But to Iruka, his eyes were full of cracks, and he caught a glimpse of something underneath. And what he saw there sent a small thrill down his spine, but why, he couldn't say.

"Iruka, I want you to realize how vitally important you are to Naruto's existence. You are his sole driving force. Out of this entire village, only you came to him and acknowledged his existence from the bottom of your heart. You saved him from the hell called loneliness. When faced with Haku and Zabuza, he could only think of himself and you. You became his precious person. Without you, he would be dead."

And silence fell.

Iruka turned the words over in his mind, knowing them to be, on some level, true. He bowed his head. He stared down at the ground, painfully aware of the young boy pressed against his back, blissfully unaware in sleep. Iruka felt an emotion rising in his chest, something horrible and painful. He felt his eyes burn, and as always there was that split second of horrible realization of what he was powerless to stop. _I'm going to cry._ And then, slowly, tears were beginning to fall down his cheeks. The emotion grew worse, the words playing again in his mind. _Only you, only you._

"No." he whispered, his voice tortured. "No, don't say that." He was shaking his head back and forth, once, twice. Those words… "I'm not- I shouldn't be his precious person." The tears began to fall faster. "Because I…" Gods, how hard it was for him to say it. He had said it countless times before in his head, in places where no one could hear. But, to say it now, and have someone know… the words emerged, whether he wanted them to or not.

"I hate Naruto."

Beside him, he felt rather than saw Kakashi stiffen.

It was too late to turn back now. The words were coming faster. He spoke in heated rush. "I hate him sometimes, with every fiber of my being. I hate the demon sealed inside of him. I can't even look at him without seeing the fox. And when you spoke of him using the demon's power, I could feel myself shaking, my hatred of him rising. I'm no different from anyone else in this village." He cut himself off, unable or unwilling, he couldn't tell anymore.

And there, it was said. It at once horrified him and relieved him. He had felt it for the longest time, but was so ashamed by it that he could never find the words to tell anyone. He loved Naruto, of that he was certain. But sometimes he would stare into that boy's eyes, and it seemed as if he could hear that final horrible wail of the Kyuubi, and he thought of his father's sightless eyes. He couldn't help but feel, staring into Naruto's eyes, that the Kyuubi was there, laughing at him. And his hatred was immense.

A hand fell on Iruka's shoulder, heavy yet gentle. Another hand touched his chin and tilted his head up, where his eyes met Kakashi's face.

"Stop, Iruka. Stop torturing yourself over this." Kakashi said, and his voice was still hard. "You love Naruto just as much as you hate him, and you know I'm right. I see it in your eyes. I know it must tear you up inside, to love and hate something as much as you must, and I realize what a strong will you must possess to be his precious person. You, of all people, would have a right to hate him. No one would begrudge you that. And yet you chose to push aside enough of the hatred in your heart to let in that young boy sleeping against your back."

The words, simple, frank, comforting. He felt something release inside, like he was clinging desperately onto something and suddenly let it go. It took him a moment to place the feeling, but he realized it was his self-loathing. Iruka wasn't one to hate himself and live in constant dejection. Truly, it barely weighed on his shoulders. But you don't realize how much something weighs until you don't have to hold it any longer.

Taking deep breaths, Iruka freed one hand and wiped away his tears, never taking his eyes off Kakashi's face. "Then why don't you carry him for a while?" Iruka whispered.

And just like that, Naruto's weight changed shoulders.

Wordlessly, Kakashi moved around Iruka, gently pried Naruto off Iruka's back, and moved him onto his own. He adjusted Naruto's weight until it was comfortable, then beckoned Iruka to begin walking once again.

The two of them set off down the dark streets, once again a silence falling between them. It continued for a time, Iruka leading the way, Kakashi trailing at his side. The only noise was Naruto's faint snores.

And as always, the silence between them never lasted long.

"How did you know?" Kakashi asked softly.

Iruka looked puzzled. "Know?"

"How did you know which one was me, back in Ero Paradise?" he asked again.

It seemed like forever ago. Iruka opened his mouth to reply, then snapped it shut, as if unsure of himself. He struggled to find the right words, to make it so Kakashi could understand. He had never told anyone this, so the world stumbled out of his mouth uncertainly, unclearly. That seemed to be happening to him a lot tonight.

"I could… feel it." He said slowly.

Kakashi narrowed his eyes. "Feel it?"

Iruka looked at his feet nervously. "Yes. Feel it. Not… _you_ specifically. Those clones… they didn't have any _life_ in them. The way they moved, the way they spoke. There wasn't any feeling behind their actions. They were… cold." He said quietly. "They had no color, they were just…gray. The Kakashi I know isn't that dull color. When I look at you, I see a deep vibrant red." He said. Having said it, it took him a moment to realize how strange that sounded, but it was, again, too late to take the words back.

Kakashi stared wordlessly at him. Iruka bit his lip, thinking that perhaps he had said too much and half afraid Kakashi would laugh at him. But Kakashi said nothing and the two of them continued down the lonely road, Naruto still peacefully unaware as he snuggled against Kakashi's back.

They _almost_ stayed for more than a minute, before Kakashi spoke up once again.

"So you give people colors? Is that some sort of teaching thing?" he asked. He said it in the way of someone who didn't really want to ask. He said it as if curiosity had gotten the better of him and he _had_ to ask, or it would drive him nuts.

Iruka shook his head. "No, that's not what I meant. I don't give people colors, I _see _them. But not what you'd think of as seeing. It's more like knowing than seeing, really. When I look at a person, sometimes I'm get an impression of something, a color like blue or violet. Sometimes a mix of colors, sometimes I'll get nothing at all. There's really no rhyme or reason to it. It just… is."

"I think I understand. So you actually _see_ these colors, you don't just think of them."

"Again, it's more like knowing that seeing. Do we really have to talk about this? I sound like an idiot."

A pause.

"What, do the colors surround them, like a halo?" Kakashi asked curiously.

"You're making fun of me." Iruka said accusingly. "I knew you would."

Kakashi held up a hand. "Hey wait, I wasn't. Honest. I was just asking."

Iruka eyed him, as if to take measure of his sincerity. Seeing nothing to object to, Iruka shrugged. "If you must know, it's more like an inner light. It comes from the whole body, like the way they lift their arm makes me think of yellow, or when they walk I reminds me of green." Iruka informed him.

A small bit of veiled confusion leaking into his voice, Kakashi asked, "Then is it transparent or something? Or do you just walk around seeing blue and green people?"

A humorless smile tugged the corners of Iruka's lips. "You're not listening. I've said it twice; _it's more like knowing than seeing_. Except one kind of turns into the other. If I see you walking in front of me, it makes me think of the color red. And because I'm thinking of red, you look red to me, even though at the same time you don't. And remember, this doesn't happen all the time. Only randomly."

There was a short pause. Then Kakashi said, "You know, that's really weird."

Iruka frowned. "Yeah, almost as weird as eyes that can see out the back of your head. Or bodies that act as a house for bugs. Or men who can turn into dogs. Or eyes that change to red and spin. Or a young boy with a demon sealed in his navel."

Kakashi raised a hand apologetically. "Valid point. In fact, you're rather normal, all things considered."

Iruka grinned. "Why thank you Kakashi, that's so kind of you to say. I'm glad you don't think I'm a freak."

Kakashi bowed.

"What color is Naruto?" he inquired.

Iruka laughed softly and Kakashi shifted Naruto's weight. "Orange. An incredibly vibrant orange. Sometime I see threads of red. I almost thought it was black at first, but it's a dark dark red." He stated. Kakashi glanced back at Naruto, calling to mind his orange jacket and pants, and thought of his bright outgoing personality.

"I would never have guessed." He murmured. Iruka grinned at him.

"Naruto's was obvious. It's easier to tell with some people." Kakashi glanced at him.

"Was I easy?"

Iruka slowed to a halt and turned to fully face Kakashi. He gazed into his eye, as if judging him, searching him. Kakashi merely gazed back, expressionless.

"…No, you were difficult. It's really just how my mind works. It's how I connect to people. I associate them with things. Not consciously, but just as something natural to me. When I look at Naruto, my mind automatically associated him with the color orange. And to me, that color means energy, vivacity, joy. And sometimes I'll look at him and he'll strike me as something different, like deep red. It's just the natural way my mind connects to people. You though… your color is different than what I normally associate with someone. It's a deep red, but there is something in it. Something _underneath_ it." Iruka's eyes flicked to Kakashi's hair. "Not quite white, but not purely gray either. The color of your hair. It's as if… the red isn't your color. It feels…" Iruka hesitated. "It feels as if you stole it, and you're trying to hide behind it."

Kakashi kept his face expressionless, but on the inside his mind was racing. Iruka possessed some talent he had never seen before. He had seen past Kakashi, past the Sharingan. Kakashi began to get curious.

"Is that all you associate? Colors? Or do you get feelings as well? I though I heard you say something about intentions." he asked.

Iruka turned away and began walking again, Kakashi falling in step beside him. He smiled.

"Looks like you were paying attention after all. Yes, not only color. Feelings sometimes… or rather, intentions, as I said earlier."

Kakashi's thoughts drowned everything else out as his mind raced. Initially, he wished he had never asked Iruka how he saw through those clones in Ero Paradise. Because now that he knew how Iruka had known, knew that Iruka had his own unique jutsu, he couldn't just let that information go. The cruel side of himself, the calculating side, realized the benefits of having such a gift, in light of recent events within the village and the neighboring countries. Especially considering the unique information that Hokage-sama had recently imparted to Kakashi. He also had many friends within the ANBU ranks, so information concerning military matters was very open to him. Relations between the Hidden Leaf and the Hidden Sand were quickly crumbling, and because of the information concerning Orochimaru sightings within the Leaf Country, to have someone who could automatically _know… _

"Kakashi?" Iruka asked uncertainly. "Are you alright? You didn't answer me."

Kakashi reached up and put his hand on Iruka's shoulder.

"Iruka, I want you to come with me and see Hokage-sama tomorrow." Kakashi told him, staring at him intently.

"Don't you have to teach Team 7 tomorrow?" Iruka asked, feeling that the question had been rather sudden. For some reason, staring at Kakashi and his rigid stance, he felt uneasy. "And why do we need to go see Hokage-sama? I don't understand."

Kakashi disregarded Iruka's confusion with a wave of his hand. "You may not know it, but I think this is more important than teaching them. More important than anything right now, especially now. Besides, they're bored with the missions given to them anyway. They can stand one day away from work." Here, Kakashi's voice grew more serious. "There are some things you don't know Iruka, just as there are things you might be able to help with that no one else can. Isn't it worth finding out?"

Iruka shook his head, beginning to understand intuitively what Kakashi might want from him. "I don't think you understand. It's not going to be useful because I have no control over it. I might know just as much as I might not know. I've never even told anyone about it because it's so pointless."

Kakashi shrugged. "Then I guess we'll have to work on making it better." He stated, and from his tone of voice Iruka realized that once Kakashi decided, there was nothing he could do about it.

_And why not?_ he thought. _Why not see if I can be useful?_

Iruka fell silent and Kakashi didn't continue the conversation. Iruka was inwardly surprised that Kakashi asked him something like that so suddenly. He had caught a look in Kakashi's eye, briefly, something cold and hard, sad perhaps. But, somehow, that seemed just like him, and any doubts were pushed to the back of his mind. Naruto's house appeared in the distance and Kakashi pointed it out.

"There's Naruto's house. Are you going to drop him off there?"

Iruka found himself blushing slightly, even though he was grateful for the change in conversation. "I was going to bring him to my house." He said. "It's been a while since I've had company." He admitted, embarrassed.

"Are you lonely?"

Iruka glanced at him in surprise. "Sometimes, yes. But most of the time, no. I'm used to be alone."

"Because of the demon fox." Kakashi said quietly.

Hearing that, Iruka was suddenly painfully aware of how close Naruto was to him. His stomach was pressed up against his back, the naval where the demon fox was sealed keeping a constant pressure. In spite of himself, he found himself thinking of the demon fox. What separated him from that monster, that murderer? A few inches of flesh and fabric… "Yes, because of the demon fox." He whispered.

Kakashi nodded._ Why did he bring that up again? _Iruka wondered.

"Where's your house, Iruka?" Kakashi asked.

Iruka narrowed his eyes at this change in topic, but answered. "A couple blocks down, a few streets over."

"Alright." He said.

Iruka glanced at him curiously, realizing that he hadn't the faintest clue where Kakashi lived.

"I live around here, just like you." He said suddenly, answering Iruka's unasked question.

"How did you--" he began.

Kakashi waved it off. "People are always curious to see where I live. They seem to think I don't _have_ a place to live, though what prompts that ridiculous thought, I have yet to figure out."

Iruka laughed. "I'll admit, that's what I found myself thinking. No offense intended… but I always figured you lived in a tree somewhere, filled with perverted books that you read all day."

"A tree?" He asked mildly.

Iruka laughed harder. "Yes, a tree." He teased. "Naruto says you always look right at home in them, so naturally I assumed…"

Kakashi put on a suffering expression. "I'm so misunderstood." He pouted.

Iruka draped an arm around Kakashi's shoulders.

"There, there. I'm sure people have you figured out all wrong." He sniggered.

Kakashi's one eye began to water. "It's… it's not fair!" he wailed. There was a moment of utter silence then Kakashi started laughing.

Iruka laughed along with him and the two had to slow in their walking. They laughed for a long time, both of them walking in the dark, nothing but the noise of their laughter echoing off the silent buildings. Eventually the chuckles died down and the two Shinobi returned to silence. They walked for a few more minutes, walking past streets until Iruka led them down one of them. Before long, Iruka nodded towards a house a few yards ahead.

"There's my house." He declared.

* * *

Thanks for all the great reviews you guys! 

And on a rather pointless note, I was listening to a _live_ version of Where Eagles Fly by Sammy Hagar as I wrote this. What does that have to do with anything? Why, nothing. But I've always believed that music can be very influential to writing.


	3. Eiyuu no Musuko

"Sometimes you've got to get away

To want to go back home again."

Sheryl Crow

* * *

_Chapter 3: Eiyū no Musuko_

**K**akashi looked from the house to Iruka and smiled. "Looks cozy."

Iruka was silent, not sure how to respond to that. They walked the rest of the way down the road and up the path to the front door.

"You can come in for a while if you want and warm up. It's kind of chilly outside."

"Thanks."

Iruka opened the door and stepped inside, Kakashi following close behind.

"Nice place you got here." Kakashi commented, looking around. The house itself was medium sized, built for probably at least four people. It seemed to follow a theme of a brown wood and crème colored walls. It was sparsely decorated, almost looking as if the entire interior décor had been merely an afterthought. There were very few pictures on the walls within sight of the door, and those there were seemed to consist of mainly of the major points in Iruka's life, starting with his youth and moving steadily forward. Kakashi spared them a cursory glance. One of Iruka wearing his hitai-ate, obviously newly earned, one of him standing beside a small group of people wearing Chuunin uniforms, also obviously newly earned. Several pictures of a bunch of children outside the Academy, which Kakashi thought to be graduating classes. In total, walking into the house, you were aware of a totally normal and un-unique household. He wondered briefly why Iruka lived all alone in it after he glanced to a hallway to the right that led to the bedrooms, three of them if he was staring at all the doors there were.

Straight ahead was the kitchen and, from what Kakashi could see from his obscured view, Iruka was _not _a neat freak, judging by the dirty pans and dishes lying around.

Kakashi walked a bit further into the house, and was able to see fully into a room to the left of that, which contained a low table that looked at the perfect height to be a footrest for the grayish hued couch that sat directly behind it, and there were also few comfy looking chairs flanking the table, each following the pattern of wood and dusty colors. Books were lying randomly around the room and a pile of papers sat on the table. There were few pictures on the wall. One caught Kakashi's eye, resting above the fireplace. It showed a young Iruka, five years old he guessed, sitting on his father's shoulders, his beautiful smiling mother standing in her husband's embrace. All of them were smiling. Iruka had a huge ridiculous grin on his face. A huge waterfall poured in the background and Kakashi noticed, upon closer inspection as he took a few steps forward, that the trio in the picture was fairly wet.

"It's not much, but its home." Iruka said from behind him.

"Lived here long?" Kakashi inquired.

"Ever since I was little." He answered. He pulled off his shoes, setting them next to the front door.

"Bedrooms are this way. It'll only take me a minute to put Naruto down." He said, and walked down the hallway to the right. Kakashi laughed inwardly at Iruka's choice of words. Iruka opened one of the doors and stepped inside. Curious, Kakashi followed behind him. He had been right in his first assessment that there were only three bedrooms.

It was a large bedroom they walked into, with a typical bed and a nightstand made of the same wood as everything else against the left wall. A table sat in one corner, surrounded by two chairs. A closet stayed closed off to the right and a small window was placed in the wall straight across from the door they had just entered. A fireplace, a rarity in a room by itself, was built next to the window. It reminded Kakashi vaguely of a hotel room.

"Do you sleep in here?" Kakashi asked.

Iruka shook his head. "I sleep one room over. This is the guest bedroom. Naruto keeps a few of his things here, so I guess you could call this his room."

"It's kind of nice for a guest bedroom. Why don't you sleep in here?" Kakashi wondered.

Iruka sighed and walked over to the bed, pulling the covers back in one swift movement. He carefully laid Naruto down and set to the task of taking his shoes and jacket off without waking him.

"This used to be my parent's bedroom." He explained. "After they were killed, I couldn't bare sleeping in here. Too many memories I guess." He tossed Naruto's jacket onto one of the chairs by the table and put his shoes on the floor at the foot of the bed. He turned to face Kakashi.

"Ironic, I know, but I can't blame Naruto for something he didn't do. He _isn't_ the demon fox, as I realized a while ago, and despite what other people may think, I don't have a problem with it." He said, more sharply than he had intended.

Kakashi gazed silently at the sleeping child and then quietly left the room. Iruka sighed and rubbed his hand across his eyes wearily. "Nice one, Iruka." He muttered to himself. He tucked Naruto in the covers and left the room, pausing at the doorway to flick off the lights.

He found Kakashi leaning against the front door, staring off into space. As soon as he came into view, Kakashi turned to him and said. "It's late, I should be going."

Iruka pulled off his hitai-ate and gently tugged off his hair tie, letting his hair fall around his face.

"You… you can stay if you want. I mean– there's an extra bedroom you can stay in. It's getting late. Why not stay the night?" Iruka asked nervously.

Kakashi stared into his eyes for a moment, as if thinking, then nodded. Inwardly he smiled. Iruka was too kind for his own good.

"Thanks, I would like that."

Iruka smiled. "You can take the room at the end of the hall."

"Oh, so I don't get to share a room with you?" Kakashi asked mournfully. The effect was ruined when he waggled his eyebrows.

Iruka rolled his eyes. "I never share my room with _anybody_." He declared, and then ruined the effect by winking.

Kakashi and Iruka grinned at each other. "So are you just going to go to your room like a good little boy or am I going to have to tie you up and drag you there?" Iruka asked.

"You can tie me up anytime Iruka." He purred.

Iruka raised an eyebrow. "Scary…"

Kakashi grinned wickedly, but that was quickly followed by a yawn.

"I think I'm rather tired, but I'm not in sleep-mode yet. Do you have coffee here, or am I going to have to wander over to another hot young male's house and beg?"

"Oh, sit your firm little butt on that couch and I'll make you some coffee, you freeloader."

Kakashi winced. "Harsh, Iruka, harsh."

Iruka winked and disappeared into the kitchen.

"Do you mind if I wander a bit?" Kakashi called after him.

"As long as you don't break, crack, burn, or otherwise destroy anything. And if I catch you in my room, I'm going to attack you, give you a scar to match mine, torture you, learn all your dirty secrets, spread said secrets all over the entire village kill you after your humiliation is complete, and hang your mangled corpse next to my front door as a warning."

"Roger!" Kakashi said sharply, and snapped off a salute, even though he knew Iruka couldn't see it.

He wandered around the living room, first taking a seat on the couch, which he noticed was rather comfortable. He leaned forward and began to thumb through the papers sitting on the coffee table. Other people may be hesitant to go through another person's things, or snoop around someone else's house, but Kakashi had no such qualms. In fact, he loved doing it, because he learned things he might have not ordinarily learned. There was a stack of school papers on one end of the table. He picked those up and flipped through them. _A lot of red marks_, he thought. He stopped when he spotted Konohamaru's name at the top of the paper. He glanced over the paper, noting the lack of even a single red mark. _Look's like someone is finally getting serious about being a shinobi._

Finding nothing interesting, Kakashi put the papers back on the table and picked up the next object, a book, which turned out to be a detailed book of advanced jutsus, one he recognized because he had read it before, and had personally been mentioned in it. It was a closely guarded book, since it contained things not meant to be advertised outside of the village. It was incredibly detailed, but still omitted certain facts. _Why does he have this?_ Kakashi wondered, and noticed that several pages of the book were dog-eared. He opened up to the first dog-eared page. It was a detailed description about the various abilities of the Byakugan. A few things were underlined, including a sentence describing that there was a weakness to the ability, but due to military secrecy it could not be disclosed. A paragraph was circled that described in detail what exactly a Byakugan user saw when using the ability.

Kakashi flipped to the next section, which contained information about the Shishienjin no jutsu. Kakashi recognized the skill. Four people, standing apart from each other in any shape, could combine and focus their chakra together to strengthen the atmosphere around them, creating an impenetrable wall. It appears as a violet color because of it's interaction of the atmosphere. The chakra of the four shinobi are focused to appear as a white light, or light which science defines as containing every color. This is why there is a bright flash just before the barrier is erected. The white chakra-enhanced light reacts with the oxygen in the air, which scatters the light molecules within the white light. On the color scale, violet has the shortest wavelength and thereby violet particles of light scatter the most. The chakra fuses with those scattered violet particles to create the barrier. You'd need an attack on the atomic level to dispel the barrier. That, or the death of one of the four shinobi contributing chakra.

Below the interesting description, there was a note claiming that the jutsu was a specialty of the newly formed Sound Country. It listed all the known past instances where the barrier had been effectively used and who used it. The last, Kakashi noted, had been during the battle of the Kyuubi. It listed the four people involved in the barrier.

Kamiwara Anotsu (deceased)

Umino Kyokuho (deceased)

Harume Geiko (deceased)

Minamo Eiji (deceased)

Kakashi was startled at the second name, oddly feeling as if he were intruding on something he shouldn't be. _So that's how Iruka's mother died_, Kakashi thought. His curiosity about the book was waning away under his feeling of discomfort, so he browsed through the rest of it quickly, noting the remaining dog-eared pages included the Sharingan and the Youmi. The page on the Kyubi was worn, as compared to the unmarred page of the Tanuki. Kakashi briefly stared at the picture of the Kyuubi, its eyes alight with a demonic fire that the picture didn't quite do justice, before he slammed the book shut and set it back down on the table.

His gaze traveled over the remaining item on the table. There was nothing of further interest, only school papers and empty food containers.

Kakashi stood up and began to wander around the room. Some of his thoughts remained on the book lying on the table, but he stifled his remaining curiosity. It was none of his business if Iruka was interested in the Youmi, the demon monsters. If anyone had a right to be, it was Iruka.

Kakashi found himself facing the picture he had noticed when he first arrived at Iruka's house, the one of Iruka and his parents next to the waterfall. He stared at it, taking in the ridiculous grin on Iruka's face. _He looks so happy. _The older version of Iruka now messing around in the kitchen still looked remarkably similar to the younger Iruka in the picture. Only a few more lines, longer hair, and a weariness of the eyes betrayed Iruka's age. Kakashi peered at Iruka's mother. She was a plain sort of woman, with an ordinary beauty, a face you wouldn't glance at twice. It was her smile that caught Kakashi's attention, the same contagious expression that was mirrored by her son. In fact, looking between the young Iruka and his mother, Kakashi noticed the remarkable similarity between the two. Iruka had obviously inherited most of his mother's traits. Their eyes were different, however, and Kakashi's gaze traveled over to the father. Yes, those were Iruka's eyes, but on a face that was only slightly similar to Iruka's. The similarities between Iruka and his father weren't obvious. You had too look deeper for the connection, and Kakashi saw it in the way Iruka sat so comfortably on his father's shoulders, the way his father looked to pleased to have his son sitting there, and it almost looked as if they _fit _together. Yes, there were father and son, in a way Kakashi couldn't quite put his finger on.

Smiling to himself, Kakashi continued his wandering around the room. Next to the mantle was a plaque, and on that plaque there was attached a sword. Kakashi leaned forward to read the inscription.

In honor of Umino Kujira, decorated ANBU squad leader and shinobi of Konohagakure, who died honorably in battle protecting his village, XX month, XX day, XX year.

I am the son of heroes.

Tracing a finger over the final inscription, Kakashi whispered the words to himself softly. "I am the son of heroes."

"My father was very proud of his lineage." said a voice behind him. Kakashi turned to find Iruka standing behind him, holding two steaming mugs of coffee. "He always told me that he was honored by his ancestors, that we came from a noble, honorable bloodline." Iruka handed a mug to Kakashi, who took it gratefully. With his free hand, Iruka pointed to his eyes. "This, he told me, is my gift from him. He always laughed at me for looking like my mother, but he always reminded me that my eyes were his."

It was with a wry smile that Iruka reached forward and traced the inscription, Kakashi's hand having fallen away. Iruka's voice became deeper, mimicking his father, "Iruka, you may have gotten your mom's pansy hair, her chin, her nose, and her face, but those beautiful eyes of yours that you see in the mirror, those you should be proud of, because those are mine." Iruka chuckled. "They were both beautiful people in their own right. And they knew it too. That's probably why they always reminded me of my looks. What was it my mother always said? 'When you look into the mirror, Iruka, it's the loving face of your mother you see, and don't you ever forget it." That wry smile on his face widened. "I always got irritated when they told me things like that, so I always told them it that it was always my father staring at my mother in the mirror, and never just me. They'd roar with laughter…"

Kakashi looked thoughtful for a moment, then grinned. "Oh, I see. Your father's eyes looking at your mother's face." He paused. "Sounds like they really loved each other." Kakashi commented.

"Yeah, they did. Still madly in love after all those years being married. Oh, and such pranksters too! Never satisfied to let the other get ahead of them. If my father pulled a joke, my mother had to get him back ten times better. It carried on for years…" here he drifted off, his eyes growing distant as if he were imagining some long ago memory. Kakashi saw his eyes shift in the direction of the bedrooms, before he seemed to come back to himself. He gestured to the couch.

Kakashi and Iruka walked over to the couch and sat down. Iruka's gaze shifted from Kakashi's cup of coffee to Kakashi's face. Then he turned away pointedly and stared at the sword on the wall. Smiling, Kakashi reached up and tugged down his mask.

"Keep telling me about your parents, Iruka. It's really interesting."

Iruka almost turned around to stare at him incredulously, but caught himself in time. "Are you serious?" he asked, keeping his gaze on the sword. The couch was too far away to read the inscription, but Iruka knew it by heart anyway.

"Yeah, serious. Not a whole lot of people actually sit down and talk to me about themselves. It's a tad bit more useful than snooping around or guessing." Kakashi sipped the coffee. It was fresh, too hot for him to drink really, but he let it burn his tongue and slide down his throat. It was so hot he could feel it in his chest when he took a deep sip. It tasted good too, and he wondered what flavor it was.

Iruka, uncertain, cast about for something more he could say about his parents. He had never really talked about them with anyone, except on occasion with the Hokage. "Well, what do you want to know?"

"If your parents were such pranksters, that probably carried on over to you, didn't it?" Kakashi asked.

Iruka groaned. "It did, with a vengeance. Honestly, being a teacher now, I wonder how my academy instructor ever managed to put with me. Looking back, I wouldn't have blamed Anotsu if he had given in and finally just kicked me out, or even killed me. I was a truly a terror.

"I was way worse than Naruto. I had experts to learn from; Naruto had to make it up as he went along. Granted, he did rather well in that respect, but I still have him beaten when it comes to pulling pranks."

Kakashi detected an undercurrent of pride when Iruka said that, and smiled. Somehow it fit in perfectly with what he thought of Iruka.

"After my parents died," he continued, "I sort of set about recreating every prank they had ever done to each other, like a homage of some sort. I think some of the teachers actually feared me during that time. If I was a terror before, I became a demon then."

"I think I'm definitely going to need an example for this." Kakashi laughed. "What kind of stuff did you do?"

Iruka laughed nervously. "I did a few things in my time, and I don't really like recounting them. It's kind of embarrassing, looking back at it. I was young and rebellious…"

"Come on, just name one." Kakashi pushed.

Iruka cleared his throat, his eyes shifting around the room nervously. He murmured something under his breath that was too quiet for Kakashi to hear.

"Could you say that again, just a little louder this time?" Kakashi asked, amused.

Running a frustrated hand through his hair, Iruka sighed. "I said they used to call me the Yuuku no Kokei."

"What!" Kakashi asked in shock. "So you're?"

A blush was rising to Iruka's cheeks. "Errr, yeah…"

Kakashi leaned back on the couch and whistled. "Yuuku no Kokei huh… sweet, innocent Iruka…"

He paused. Then burst out laughing. "Oh, this is too good to be true." Kakashi doubled over in laughter. "And to think, I had always wondered who the mysterious identity of that troublemaker was, and it turns out to be sweet little Iruka…"

Iruka could feel his ears burning. "Yeah, well I was young, and my parents had always joked about that one…"

Kakashi had to set his coffee on the table, or else it would have spilled everywhere. Great whoops of laugher sounded loudly around the room, and Iruka could have sworn he heard Kakashi fall off of the couch and onto the floor.

"It's not _that_ funny. I got in a lot of trouble for that one…"

This only seemed to make Kakashi laugh even harder. "I'm sorry," he choked out between laughs, "but I keep thinking of you setting up the explosives, and you standing there, and one of them goes off, the look on your face must've been…" Kakashi couldn't continue. Great gales of laughter emerged from his mouth, and Iruka, hearing Kakashi lost in the humor of the situation, was almost inclined to start laughing himself. Only the memory of the severe punishment he had received took the laughter away. In fact, it made him shudder when he thought of it…

Iruka sat impatiently while Kakashi laughed himself weary. It took a decidedly long time, and Iruka had nothing to do but sit there and listen to Kakashi's surprisingly clear laughter, for his mask was off and his voice no longer had that muffled sound to it. It wasn't a bad way to pass the time, but even Iruka, who had been the center of laughter for a long time, began to grow annoyed after a while. Finally, when it didn't sound like Kakashi was going to stop anytime soon, Iruka whirled around without warning. Instead of stopping laughing and pulling up his mask, Kakashi had grabbed a pillow and put it in front of his face, the laughter now muffled, but as loud as ever.

Iruka eyed him wearily, and stood up. "I'm going to get more coffee." He muttered, and walked off to the kitchen.

After Iruka had wandered off, Kakashi eventually quieted. He sat up, wiped his eyes, drained the rest of the coffee, burning his tongue even more in the process, and pulled up his mask. Repositioning himself on the couch, he tried to regain some semblance of dignity. He ran a hand through his hair, and was satisfied that it was as wild as ever. He could hear Iruka rummaging around in the kitchen, so he stood and wandered over to find Iruka heating up some coffee.

"Are we ever going to sleep, or are we going to stay on a caffeine high all night?" Kakashi wondered out loud.

Iruka waved the pair of chopsticks he was using to stir the coffee at him menacingly. "I got thirsty waiting for you to get control of yourself, you impossible Jounin."

Sticking his tongue out, Kakashi struck a ridiculous pose. Iruka tried to smother a grin as Kakashi had one arm poised over his head, the other making a decidedly rude gesture in Iruka's direction. He stood on one leg, the other one bent across the knee of the one standing. He looked ridiculous, a mockery of one of the fighting poses. He reminded Iruka of Naruto.

"Idiot." Iruka threw the chopsticks at Kakashi's face. They hit with a soft whack, and felt to the floor with a clatter.

There was a moment of silence. Kakashi was frozen in place, and Iruka could tell his mouth was hanging open under the mask. Then, Kakashi's visible eye teared up, and he pointed an accusing finger at Iruka. "You're mean!" he wailed.

Another pair of chopsticks sailed through the air and hit Kakashi in the chest. One fell to the ground, the other got stuck on one of the scroll pouches on his flak jacket. Iruka reached into a drawer and drew out another pair. Neither of them made any move. They eyed each other, measuring the will of the shinobi before them.

"Put down the chopsticks, Iruka, before someone gets hurt." Kakashi warned. His hand strayed towards his shuriken holder.

"Why would I do that, Kakashi-sempai?" Iruka wondered out loud, innocently.

In a split second, Kakashi rushed forward, his hand gripping Iruka's wrist, trying to wrench away the chopsticks. Iruka only gripped the chopsticks tighter, and promptly proceeded to elbow Kakashi in the face. The Jounin, caught off guard, staggered back, clutching his nose, howling.

"ITE! AGH, DAMMIT IRUKA! THAT HURT!"

Iruka lowered his elbow uncertainly. "It did? I'm sorry, I didn't mean—"

The moment Iruka's guard was down, Kakashi shot forward, grabbed the chopsticks from Iruka's hand, kicked the teacher solidly in the chest, and watching him go flying into the wall.

In that fraction of a second in which he acted, he had forgotten to hold back his strength. After all those endless taijutsu fights with Gai, he momentarily forgot that this was Iruka, and Iruka certainly wasn't an advanced taijutsu specialist. And, belatedly, he realized that Iruka wasn't going to be happy with these turn of events.

Iruka's back crashed into the wall, causing cracks to radiate out from the wall where he hit it. His body bounced back off with the force of the throw and Iruka somehow managed to screw up enough dignity to land on his feet instead of a heap on the floor.

He hovered there, wobbling uncertainly, a momentary look of confusion on his face as if he couldn't quite figure out what had just happened. Then Kakashi coughed, and a look of rage flashed across Iruka's face.

Kakashi winced.

And the chase ensued.

Iruka was the first to move, tilting his body forward and breaking into a mad dash. Kakashi, by the grace of observation, knew what that forward tilting meant, and by the time Iruka had taken that first step, Kakashi was off and running.

Kakashi raced out of the kitchen with Iruka hot on his heels. The house was small, so he had to cut back on his speed for accurate maneuverability. Iruka, however, seemed to have no qualms about crashing into objects. In fact, he showed a frightening disregard for objects in general, for every time he passed one, he picked it up and chucked it in the general direction of the fleeing Jounin.

"I'm going to kill you!" the Chuunin threatened in a decidedly dangerous screech, which had obviously been honed to perfection from frequent use while teaching. As he narrowly dodged a flying notebook, Kakashi added apparent disregard for the persons of others to the growing list of how an angry Iruka acted.

Several broken pieces of furniture, decorations, teaching apparatuses, and miscellaneous kitchenware later, a tired Iruka sat on the floor, his back against the wall, and his eyes fixed on the wary form of Kakashi.

"That was…" Kakashi said.

"Fun?" Iruka asked.

There was a momentary pause, than a nod of assent. "Yes, fun is a good word."

Iruka's lips twisted into a smile. "That was a bit uncommon for me-"

"Really? I would never have guessed."

"Careful, I can see the sarcasm dripping from your mouth."

"_That_ was almost witty."

"I try."

A silence.

"I think that should just about cover it for the day." Iruka stated, wiping his hands absentmindedly on his flak jacket. "Shall we travel to our respective bedrooms now? Or do we feel the need to destroy more of my house?"

Grumbling a quiet _'We?'_ Kakashi rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "I'm ready to call it a night." He said. Kakashi's eyes traveled to small swash of blood on Iruka's head that had previously gone unnoticed. It could have come from any number of things, but Kakashi felt a small bit of guilt. He reached into the pouch on his side and pulled out a length of bandage. "Here." Kakashi said, and grabbed Iruka's arm, tugging him out of the kitchen and into the living room. He pushed him gently onto the couch.

"What are you doing?" Iruka asked, shying away from the Jounin as if he expected him to pull another stunt.

"You're bleeding. Tie up your hair." Kakashi commanded. Iruka frowned, reached up with a hand to touch his temple. When he pulled the fingers away, there was a small spot of blood on them.

"Oh." He said.

Kakashi thought to himself that this was the first time he had seen Iruka with his hair down. It made him look… different. Younger, somehow, or more innocent. Certainly more handsome. He wondered why the Chuunin didn't keep it down more often. The woman would be after him like white on rice. Or maybe that was why he kept it up in the first place.

Iruka obeyed, reaching forward onto the table and rummaging around until he found a hair tie. Kakashi grabbed it out of his hand before he could move to use it. "Let me, it'll go faster," he said. He ran his hands along the back Iruka's neck, gathering up all his hair, feeling the soft strands slide easily through his fingers. He felt Iruka shiver under his touch, and grinned. He gathered the hair into a decent ponytail and tied it off. Then he placed one hand on Iruka's chin and turned his face to the side, examining the cut on the temple.

"Nothing serious, just a scratch. Head wounds always bleed pretty bad, but it's mostly superficial. You'll probably have a headache in the morning though." Kakashi said as he gently wiped away the blood on Iruka's face and unraveled the bandage, carefully starting to wrap it around Iruka's forehead.

Iruka shrugged. "Can't be helped I guess. I suppose I've learned not to try and keep chopsticks from you. It could be deadly."

Kakashi, tying off the bandage, laughed. "Yes, I'm a rather dangerous individual. Be careful, I take my chopsticks very seriously."

Iruka laughed along with him and they both rose from the couch. Iruka led the way over to the hallway with the bedrooms. "Sorry about the wall. Didn't really mean to do that." Kakashi said as they walked.

Iruka was desperately tempted to say 'happens all the time'. So tempted, in fact, that he decided to say it out loud. He was rewarded with a deep, honest laugh from the Jounin, that quieted when they passed by Naruto's room.

Iruka stopped at his bedroom and placed his hand on the doorknob. "I trust you'll keep quiet like a good boy tonight? I'm not going to have to go in there and look under your bed for monsters, am I?"

Kakashi waggled his eyebrows. "There are a few monsters under the covers with me, if you want to spend the night there to make sure they don't eat me."

Iruka flashed him a wane smile. "I'm afraid the monsters will be the only one's eating tonight."

"Ooo, dirty Iruka." Kakashi marveled.

Iruka yawned. "As much as I would like to exchange sexual banter with you all night, I'm going to have to leave you now."

"Alas, my man is leaving me. I suppose that's enough sexual innuendo for one night. I think I'll go drop dead now. I trust there's a tree in my room for me to sleep on. Wouldn't want to crush any rumors about my sleeping habits. Honestly, _me_, sleeping in a tree…" He said and drifted down the hallway. Iruka turned when Kakashi called down to him.

"I'll see you tomorrow?"

It seemed as if there were a million underlying questions buried in that inquiry, but Iruka was much too tired to give it any thought. He nodded, absently rubbing the bandage wrapped around his head. "Tomorrow." He said, and there was a small smile on his face as Kakashi opened the door to his room and stepped inside. Iruka opened the door to his bedroom and wearily entered, then shut the door quietly behind himself.

Kakashi, standing at his doorframe, gazed at Iruka's closed door for a second before closing his own door. It was a miniature version of Naruto's room, if a little less nice and without a fireplace. Kakashi yawned and pulled off his vest, tossing it carelessly on the floor along with his hitai-ate. He pulled down his mask and that was when he noticed the utter lack of a bed in the room. Kakashi stared at the bare spot of the room where the bed obviously used to be. And there, on the floor, was a tiny bonsai tree. "When on earth did he do that?" Kakashi wondered out loud. He had been with Iruka the entire night. _Sneaky little bastard_, Kakashi mused to himself. _Touché Iruka_.

He walked over to the bonsai tree, shoved it out of the way, and laid himself down on the floor in its place. He considered going into the living room to sleep on the couch, but discarded the idea. He decided to regard this situation as his punishment for the damage done to Iruka's house. Kakashi stretched out on the floor, using his arms as a pillow. His gaze wandered over the ceiling, not looking for anything, just letting his mind cycle through his thoughts aimlessly.

He thought back to everything that had happened that day. Mostly, he thought about the strange thing Iruka had admitted to him, that he could see things, he could see colors, auras, and could make his way past barriers erected by Kakashi that no one else had penetrated. What thought bothered him the most, however, was what Iruka had said about him.

_"You though… your color is different than what I normally associate with someone. It's a deep red, but there is something in it. Something underneath it." Iruka's eyes flicked to Kakashi's hair. "Not quite white, but not purely gray either. The color of your hair. It's as if… the red isn't your color. It feels…" Iruka hesitated. "It feels as if you stole it, and you're trying to hide behind it."_

The words rang through his mind, endless, repeating over and over in a mantra that didn't allow him to fall asleep until the sun had almost risen over the horizon. He whispered the words to himself.

"You stole it…"

* * *

Sorta… tired… sooooo… THANK YOU everyone for your wonderful reviews. Very inspirational. Since I'm just dieing to please you people.

Uhh, let me just say here and now that my Japanese sucks. I'm only in Japanese 1 at my school, so as near as I can tell Yuuku no Kokei means something like Successor of Trouble. And I figure 'Ehh, what the hell, close enough'.

Ok, the story of the Yuuku no Kokei is actually a side story that I'm working on. For the sake of understanding, I'll just paraphrase what it's about so you can understand. Iruka, after his parents are murdered, decides to recreate a prank his parents had always joked about. He holds the Hokage Monument hostage, planting explosives around it and threatening to blow it up. It's WAY more complicated than that, but that's the basic idea. The stunt was pretty infamous, and the identity of the one who masterminded it isn't common knowledge. So for Iruka to be the Yuuku no Kokei is pretty… well… surprising. And a lot of people are going to feel that way in this fic.


	4. Kyouiku

"If you hate a person, you hate something in him that is part of yourself. What isn't part of ourselves doesn't disturb us."

Herman Hesse

* * *

_Chapter 4: Kyōiku _

**H**aving fallen asleep for only a few hours, Kakashi still woke up before everyone else. The light from the sunrise, now just emerging on the horizon, fell across his face. The wonderful feeling of warmth spread over him as the sunlight slowly filled the window and fell over his resting body. The first thing his eyes came in contact with was the bonsai tree that had replaced his bed. Kakashi was now aware of a dull ache in his back from sleeping on the floor. He ignored it, having been very used to the feeling, as most shinobi in the field were.

The Academy didn't start until the afternoon, so Iruka would still be in the house. Kakashi debated whether or not he should just leave through his bedroom window, in typical Kakashi style, or if he should spend the morning with Iruka. Though the previous day had been very educational to Kakashi about Iruka, he still didn't owe the man any overwhelming loyalty. He liked the teacher, to be sure. Who wouldn't? He was an intelligent, engaging man with a hidden twisted humor. Kakashi didn't make friends so quickly or easily, and didn't trust himself to surrender completely to someone he only knew a fraction about. Iruka's integrity wasn't in jeopardy; Naruto would vouch for him. In actuality, it was purely for Naruto's sake that Kakashi decided to meet with Iruka. He wanted to see the man who had so drastically changed and influenced the young Genin. He wanted to speak with Naruto's precious person himself.

The Wave Country had changed his team, he knew that well. Sakura had come to an inner realization, that shinobi die in the line of duty, that the path of a ninja is harsh and filled with bitter loss. That the people she held so close to her heart could be torn away, and she was helpless to stop it. There was a change in her eyes now, a certain hardness that hadn't been there before. She had steeled her heart, as best as she could, and was trying to come to terms with the life she had chosen for herself.

Sasuke was still Sasuke. He was still a power-hungry vengeful young man with brilliance flowing through his veins. The only thing that Sasuke realized was that, while he had a dream, that dream would not keep him alive. His will alone was not enough to sustain his dream, to keep it alive. He had to fight, to work, to become more powerful. The world did not care about someone's dreams. The world only cared about someone strong enough to protect their dreams. Haku could have killed him, and all the vengeance in Sasuke couldn't have prevented it. Sasuke knew this, and if he pushed himself twice as hard now as he had before, it was because he had realized that genius wasn't enough.

Naruto had changed the most, yet at the same time it seemed as if he had changed the least. There was no outward change in him. He still appeared to be the number one loudest ninja, still lagging behind. What had changed was on the inside, the same steel being forged as in all other young shinobi. The hardships of the profession were slowly becoming aware in his mind. He was the realizing that while Haku did not deserve death, that he was not a bad person at heart, the laws of the shinobi could never allow him to live. He fought for his precious person and because of that, he was dead. It put a fear in Naruto, a small portion of his heart was now reserved for people like Haku. A part of him was slowly steeling himself for the next time he came upon a shinobi like Haku, or even Zabuza. A shinobi must always see underneath the underneath. Many that deserve to live, die. It is a sad thing in life that shinobi are the ones that deal in death, but is a necessary path in life that someone must fulfill. And Naruto realized that if he were to follow his goals, to become Hokage, he must go through whoever stood in his way, whether that person be Haku or even Iruka. Inside, Naruto was a different, harder person, but his dreams never faltered.

Kakashi stretched lazily, but the laziness was a sham. He couldn't recall a time where he had woken up still drowsy, still in a haze of sleep. He was a former ANBU, an elite Jounin, Copy Ninja Kakashi. The moment his eyes opened, his entire body was awake, alert, all traces of sleep vanished. If he appeared lazy, it was by choice. The laziness was more a habit than anything else. A trademark, an expected appearance, nothing more. So he performed his lazy stretches, dimly trying to call forth a memory of a time when there had been true laziness. But there was nothing in his memory of such a thing. Even as a child, he had been a shinobi. There was nothing to miss, however, if you never had it to begin with. Just a whim, a passing thought.

I'll stay, Kakashi thought. After being so generous with me I suppose it's the least I could do. Kakashi reached down and picked up his flak jacket and his hitai-ate and put them on. Lastly, he tugged up his face mask in a smooth fluid movement. He had the mask ever since he was a child, and the task of taking the mask on and off was done almost without thought, just a necessary thing like breathing. Performed repetitively, so often that you almost lose track of it happening.

Kakashi left his room, moving silently, because he knew Naruto would never be awake early. But he abandoned all silence when he saw that Naruto's door was open, and when he passed the doorframe he looked inside, seeing that it was empty. Iruka's door was still closed, so he assumed that the teacher was still asleep. That notion also proved to be incorrect, for when he passed into the living room, Iruka was laying on the couch, a red pen in one hand and a stack of papers on his knees, and a fresh cup of coffee sitting on the table. His hair was still down, though, and his flak jacket was no where to be seen, and he had the look about him of someone who woke up, tried falling back asleep, failed miserably, and had to occupy themselves against their wishes. Kakashi could tell, because Iruka's face still had vestiges of sleep written across it, yet the pen was moving actively across the paper, and he was lying down on the couch, almost as if he were trying to make himself tired again, but the coffee on the table led one to believe that Iruka, while wishing he was asleep, resigned himself to staying awake.

"Couldn't sleep?" Kakashi inquired. Iruka's head turned to glance at him, a wry smile on his lips.

"How perceptive of you." Iruka replied. "I tried and I failed."

"Where's Naruto?"

"He left earlier to train. He wanted to practice tree climbing."

The Jounin smiled underneath his mask. Kakashi walked over, and studied the couch, trying to see if he could squeeze in. But alas, Iruka was taking up the whole couch, and Iruka had one eyebrow raised as if saying 'this is my couch and I ain't moving'.

Kakashi grabbed the mug of coffee on the table in a gesture that screamed 'well screw you!' and sat on the armrest.

Silence prevailed for a length, except for the sound of a pen scratching across paper. Iruka looked up once, his gaze switching from the stolen mug of coffee in Kakashi's hand to Kakashi's face. There was a definite smirk on Iruka's lips. As long as the Chuunin stayed, Kakashi couldn't pull down the mask to drink the coffee.

Somehow, Iruka seems to keep getting the one up on me, Kakashi mourned to himself.

"So how does the future of Konoha look?" Kakashi asked.

"Grim. Very grim. I weep for the future. Aside from Konohamaru and a few others in the Academy, the rest of them are pretty hopeless."

"Well, Naruto's generation will keep it alive, then." Kakashi said blandly.

Iruka snorted. "That goes without saying. There seems to be a streak of genius running through those kids. No, not kids," he corrected himself, "they're adults now. Still can't stop thinking of them as those children I had to reprimand every day. Shikamaru. Choji. Kiba. Naruto. Troublemakers, all of them. Shikamaru didn't care, Choji just did everything Shikamaru did, Kiba wanted to rebel, and Naruto was acting out. Then there were geniuses like Sasuke, which was no problem. Ino was too busy chasing guys to really care about her school work. Sakura and Hinata were no problem either, they were both intelligent hard working girls. But all of them, when put together…" Iruka trailed off and a small smile lit his face. "Our future, I think, is intact."

"So there's no hope for Konohamaru's generation?"

Iruka grinned, his teeth flashing in a surprisingly feral way. "I haven't failed the village yet. I'll manage to churn out something productive." His gaze went back to what he was correcting, and the pen continued is way down the paper.

Kakashi yawned, and stared down mournfully at the cup of coffee. With a sigh, he leaned forward and set it back on the table.

"I'm hungry. Feed me." Kakashi commanded.

Iruka pointed towards the kitchen with his pen. "There's the kitchen. Feed yourself." The pen came down and continued to dance its way across the paper.

Kakashi sighed. "You're a horrible host."

"Say that again. Maybe I'll care the next time around."

The Jounin winced. "Remind me never to talk to you in the morning."

"Duly noted."

They sat there, Kakashi staring at the ceiling at first, then getting up to wander around the house, while Iruka lay on the couch correcting papers. This carried on through the morning and almost to the beginning of the afternoon. When the sun was streaming merrily through the windows, blasting Iruka in the eyes with it's brilliance, Iruka finally set down the papers, and turned to Kakashi, who had gotten bored and was now hanging upside-down right behind Iruka's head, staring over the Chuunin's shoulder at what he was doing.

"I'm hungry. Feed me." Iruka commanded.

Kakashi snapped off a salute. "Yes, sir!" He flipped down off the ceiling and bounded towards the kitchen.

Iruka called after him, "And don't destroy anything!"

* * *

Kakashi set off down the road, Iruka's house shrinking away in the distance. He had one goal in mind: The Ninja Academy. The idea had struck him while making breakfast… or lunch, whichever one the meal fell under, (the making of which resulted in damaged property quite accidentally, which in turn resulted in Kakashi being kicked out), and he decided that now was a good time to act. Iruka kept getting the upper hand for some reason, and Kakashi vowed to even the playing field.

The Academy loomed up in the distance. He had to be quick. Classes generally got there before the teachers, but not the ones that he wanted. He wanted the troublemakers, the slackers, who would show up only moments before Iruka arrived. Everything had to be timed just right.

He entered the building and stopped a random person and asked where Iruka's classroom was. He was pointed in the right direction, and Kakashi found the place easily enough. The Academy had a simple design, and contained only four large classrooms. Being a shinobi wasn't an overwhelmingly popular occupation, and not many parents would permit their children to join, and that resulted in a small, manageable number of Academy students. Rarely were all four classrooms filled. To find Iruka's classroom, it was simply a process of elimination if he wanted to do it the man's way and not ask for directions. However, that would have been a stupid thing to do, so he asked the first person he encountered and found the right classroom, and quickly mapped out his battle plan.

He stood outside the door, looking in, noting that only a few kids, probably the serious ones, were already seated. Kakashi looked at the clock in the hallway. Iruka should be there in a matter of minutes.

Ok, I walk in, make an announcement the kids, and jump out of the window just as Iruka walks in the door. Simple, yet effective.

Kakashi stood next to the door, looking as if he was just standing around, and kept glancing from the clock to down the hallway. Sure enough, two minutes before the beginning of class, a small group of children raced past him and into the classroom. He heard a chorus of greetings, and when the child-like voices reached a quieter pitch, he stepped into the classroom.

The effect was immediate. Everyone stopped talking and turned to stare at him. There was hope on a few of their faces, but Kakashi held up a hand to stall the questions.

"No, I am not a substitute. I'm here early to talk to you guys on behalf of the village."

There was interest on the children's faces now. A low murmur swept through the classroom.

"I'm here to talk to you about troublemakers." Kakashi said cheerfully with a twinkle in his eye. There was a fairly loud groan from one section of the room, while the rest just sighed dejectedly and leaned back in their seats.

Kakashi glanced at the clock on the classroom wall. Two minutes and counting. "I'm sure you're all aware of the legendary scandal of the Academy."

One boy in the back, obviously one of the troublemakers by the lazy way he had his feet propped up on the desk and his manner of speech when he spoke, called out, "Everyone knows about that."

"So you all know of the time an Academy student got a hold off," here, Kakashi eyed the students severally, "_illegally_, a set of explosive scrolls from the ANBU armory and proceeded to hold the Hokage Monument for ransom."

A few eyes widened. "We only knew that an Academy student held the Hokage Monument for ransom. We didn't know that other stuff!" the boy responded incredulously. "Nobody will tell us anything about it."

"Well… uh, what did you say your name was?" Kakashi asked the boy.

The boy stared at him defiantly. "Shuichi."

"Well, Shuichi, I'm sure you know of the crack next to Sandaime's head on the Monument, correct?"

The boy nodded.

"Well, that was a direct result of the recklessness of the Academy student's actions. I'm sure it goes without saying that the ransom attempt failed and the student received his due punishment."

"What was the punishment?" someone asked.

Here, Kakashi smiled maliciously behind his mask. A glint of it must have shown in his eye, because suddenly he had the undivided attention of the entire class. "As punishment, Hokage-sama decreed that the Academy student would forever be bound to the Academy. The student graduated, was forced take the Chunin Exam until he passed. From then on he was qualified and forced to be an Academy teacher until the end of his days."

There was a silence. Kakashi stood there, checking the clock, noting that he had a little under a minute left. He waited patiently for a student to ask the question that he knew had to be asked. They just needed a minute for all the facts to sink in.

Finally, a small voice called out. "You mean… the legendary troublemaker… is a teacher?"

Kakashi beamed. "Yes, he is."

There was another pause. Then the same voice said, a little louder, "A teacher… at _this_ Academy?"

"Yes, exactly!"

Finally, Shuichi burst out. "Well, who is it! Which one of the four teachers is the legendary troublemaker?"

Kakashi tried to stop himself from laughing. He had to build the suspense. The children were now dying to know the mysterious identity of the legendary troublemaker. Iruka's generation, of course, might have fair chance at guessing who it was, since he was quite known back in his day for his troublemaking antics. The newer generations, however, were left to guess.

Kakashi shrugged. "Sorry, I can't say."

This response was met by an immediate wave of protest, dozens of childish voices rising in anger, demanding to know who it was. Kakashi smiled, because it felt like a self-righteous anger, and their faces looked as if they felt they had a right to know. So Kakashi raised his hands to quiet them, and the voices fell into a restless silence, their eyes eager.

"I'll tell you what. I'll give you guys some hints if you promise not to tell anybody I told you. Alright?"

Kakashi made sure everyone nodded their heads before beaming at them. "First, he _is_ a teacher at this Academy. He should be arriving here in…" he glanced at the clock, "a matter of seconds."

Already a few faces were looking at him in disbelief. Kakashi continued gleefully. "He has a bandage wrapped around his head, and a rather unique feature to his face. In fact…" Kakashi cocked his head to the side, listening, "I do believe that's him I hear coming down the hallway. Now, if you'll excuse me…" Kakashi bowed, feeling laughter threatening to escape from his chest, and quickly made his exit. His form, still bowed over, seemed to disappear. He had dashed out of the window faster than their eyes could follow. There were scattered gasps throughout the class at the mysterious departure of their prophet, yet most of the students seemed too dumbfounded to do anything other than stare at the spot where the Jounin had been standing moments before, mouths hanging open and their eyes wide. Shuichi, staring incredulously forward with a look of abject shock on his face, seemed the most effected of them all.

All heads turned towards the door as Iruka strode in, and all eyes locked onto his forehead, where a bandage peeked out beneath the hitai-ate. They all stared, silently, as Iruka walked, oblivious to the looks he was receiving, towards his desk, where he set down the stack of papers he had been carrying. Finally, he looked up at his class, which he noticed was being strangely silent.

The students were all trying to assimilate the information that had just been given. The teacher, the no nonsense teacher who dealt firmly with all troublemakers, the teacher that didn't take crap from anyone, the teacher who was firm, yet fair, their _favorite_ teacher, was THE legendary troublemaker. It just didn't seem possible. People like Shuichi were busily piecing together pieces of a puzzle they hadn't even known was there. All those times, all those pranks they had tried to pull, the ones that had always failed, because Iruka seemed to see right through them, his nearly god-like ability to know their prank before they had even planned it through. Suddenly it all made sense. Shuichi was filled with anger. No wonder his pranks always failed miserably. Against a legend, he had never even stood a chance!

"Is there something wrong?" Iruka asked the class, puzzled. His eyes drifted over their faces, which all looked at him as if he had grown a second head.

"IRUKA-SENSEI!" Shuichi shrieked.

Iruka looked taken back. "Y-yes?"

"Y-you..." Shuichi sputtered. "You're the Yuuku no Kokei!"

Iruka's jaw dropped down. "WHAT! Who told you that!"

Shuichi continued as if Iruka hadn't said anything. "I can't believe you, Iruka-sensei! All this time, and it was you all along! You're the legendary Troublemaker and you never told us!"

Iruka held up his hands defensively, but now the other children were yelling too, sounding angry and betrayed.

It was the start of a long, long day.

* * *

"Class dismissed." Iruka said, and the words had never sounded better or more welcome to his ears.

The students shuffled their papers together and stood from their seats, a baleful look on their faces. The normal chorus of 'Sayonara, Iruka-sensei' was more lack-luster than usual. The students filed out of the classroom and Shuichi walked stiffly past Iruka, keeping his eyes pointedly forward. Iruka sighed.

Kakashi chose that moment to jump in through the window. A few of the students who had not already left saw him, and their eyes widened in recognition. They didn't call out to him, remembering the promise of not saying anything, but Iruka noticed the looks the students exchanged with each other, and it didn't take a genius to realize who was responsible for leaking Iruka's 'secret identity'.

Iruka glared at Kakashi. The Jounin merely waved cheerfully in response, the look in his eyes reading something akin to triumph.

Iruka had to suppress the urge to leap forward and attack Kakashi with his pen.

"Ready to go?" Kakashi asked innocently.

Iruka ground a curt "Sure." It had been a long, long class that day. After the initial roar of indignation after Iruka had admitted that he was, indeed, in infamous legendary Troublemaker who had held the Hokage Monument for ransom, the class was spent half in a sullen mood and half in a quiet self-righteous silence. Some of the kids, mostly Shuichi and his friends, seemed as if they couldn't decide if they should regard him with awe or if they should stay angry at him for keeping his identity a secret. The other kids seemed to be trying to accept this new view of their teacher. The only plus of the situation was that now he seemed to command their undivided attention no matter what he did. The down side was that what he said went in one ear and out the other.

Kakashi tilted his head to the side, his posture screaming boredom, and his voice drawled out a "Then let's get going." And his eye, which locked with Iruka's, seemed to be brimming with pent up laughter.

Iruka threw up his hands in defeat. "Fine, you win!" As one, they both turned towards the door, but it was then that Iruka felt a tug on his pants and looked down to see what was grabbing at him.

He met the gaze of a young boy, Hattori. Not one of Shuichi's friends, but one who was his own crowd, the sort of kid that had friends, but at the same time didn't have any. Smart, but not smart, quiet, but always talking. The best way to describe him was ordinary. Plain features, average height. He looked like everyone else, a face you would pass on the street and your gaze would slide right over him.

Hattori was in the middle of the class. He was good at some things, bad at others. His grades were average. Hattori was a young boy who would be nothing more and nothing less that what he was.

So Iruka made sure to look the student in the eyes, because he knew how important it was to a child for an adult to treat him as if they were equals. And for people like Hattori, just one smile could be all the motivation he needed.

"Iruka-sensei?" Hattori asked, and his voice seemed shy, but held an undercurrent of the same streak of an out-going personality that had always been shining through, but went unnoticed.

Iruka ignored Kakashi and turned his complete attention to Hattori. "Yes?"

Hattori fidgeted nervously. Iruka smiled encouragingly at him. "Is something wrong?" he asked, his voice showing his concern.

The child stared at his feet. His hands clenched and unclenched, he shifted his weight from one foot to the other. "I can't do it." He mumbled, so quietly that Iruka barely heard what he said.

"Do what?" Iruka asked gently. He's intimidated by me now, Iruka mused to himself.

"Use my chakra right. I don't get it." The little boy admitted. Hattori raised his palms and stared at them, his eyes narrowing into a glare as if he could see the chakra in his hands and they were the source of his problems. Iruka stared at him thoughtfully.

"That's nothing to worry about. It just takes some practice. Which technique are you having a hard time with?"

"Bunshin no Jutsu."

Iruka nodded knowingly. "Difficult for someone your age. In fact, I had a hard time with it myself."

Hattori stared up at him with wide eyes, showing the same disbelief that most people showed when their teachers fall just shy of perfect.

Iruka couldn't help but laugh at the look on the young boy's face. "To be honest, creating a person who looked and sounded just like me gave me the chills. I had a hard time doing it because it scared me so much. I couldn't quite grasp the idea of re-creating something as complex as myself. When I made it, did it have my memories? Did it know what I was thinking? Was it really me in there, did I give it a little bit of my soul? Was it _wrong_ to copy myself, use it, then just throw it away? Was the copy an actual person? Was it just an empty shell that I commanded? I didn't really understand what I was supposed to be doing."

There was an almost comical look of shock on the young boys face. "That's exactly what I meant, Iruka-sensei! It's like you're reading my mind!"

Iruka flashed Hattori a lop-sided grin. "Don't worry, I can't read minds. What you're thinking is actually rather common. I haven't taught you students Bunshin yet because you're not ready. You still don't understand your chakra that well."

Hattori looked disappointed. "Does that mean you're not gonna show me how to do it yet?"

Iruka flashed Kakashi a brief look, his eyebrow raised in a question of 'would you mind?'. Kakashi shifted into a posture of disinterest and waved him on with a hand, his silent way of saying 'do what you will'.

Iruka turned back to Hattori. "Are you sure you don't want to wait? It's a hard jutsu to learn at first. It would be easier if you waited until you learned more about how to use your chakra."

Hattori shook his head back and forth fiercely, his eyes shining with determination. "No, I want to learn now!"

Iruka was suddenly reminded sharply of himself. Hattori was so much like him. Iruka's earlier thoughts drifted back, he remembered how he thought of Hattori as ordinary, destined to go farther than some, but would always remain behind in the well-traveled paths, never going beyond because he lacked the skill and motivation.

So it was with great seriousness that Iruka paid very close attention to what he was doing. It was almost like he was teaching himself, or maybe it felt like he was correcting a past mistake. Would Hattori go farther than he did? Perhaps a little push was all he needed to find out.

"Show me the hand seal." Iruka commanded.

The young boy obliged and put his hands together, the inexperienced fingers having difficulty finding the right position. They fumbled a few times, the fingers awkward at having to bend a certain way. "My dad showed me how to do this." Hattori declared proudly as he worked to put his hands together. They eventually slid into position. "Like this?" he held his hands up for Iruka to see. Iruka inspected them, the words 'my dad showed me…' repeating once in his head. There was a tiny, almost imperceptible jump in his chest when he heard those words, but the impact of them had worn off over the years, and it didn't bother him so much anymore.

"Almost. Just take this finger… and put it here. This finger should be above the other one, not next to it." He said, molding Hattori's hand into the correct positions.

The boy nodded, more to himself than Iruka. He was staring at his hands curiously, his eyes obviously memorizing the way the fingers looked and felt when in the correct position. "Now what?" Hattori asked.

Iruka was silent for a moment, seemingly thinking of the best way to start explaining. He narrowed his eyes slightly, thoughtfully, and stared strait ahead, as if looking strait through Hattori and staring at something distant. The look was held for only a moment, before Iruka blinked a few times and smiled as if he had come to a conclusion. Kakashi watched him intently from his position by the door.

"You like swimming, don't you?"

Hattori looked briefly surprise at the question, then nodded vigorously. "I love swimming! I do it every chance I get! My family likes to take a trip to the ocean villages in Konoha no hantou. We have family down there, and they always let us go swimming when we want to."

The teacher part of him filed that information away for future reference. "Maybe this will help. Remember, you'll have to concentrate _really_ hard so you might not get it on the first try."

Hattori nodded eagerly.

"Now, I want you to imagine water. You can do that, right? Imagine the feel of it when you're in the ocean, how it feels to stand completely in the water, how it brushes against your skin, how it pulls at you." Iruka paused briefly, giving Hattori a chance to picture it. He watched the boy's face very carefully. Hattori's eyes narrowed as he tried to picture it. There was no immediate change, but Iruka saw the hair begin to stand on end on Hattori's bare arms. Iruka took this as a sign that he was on the right track, and continued.

"Now imagine something a little bit different, that there's an ocean of that water _inside_ of you. It's just the same, only now the water is brushing against the inside of your skin, it's pulling very gently at you. Think of it as a current continuously flowing through you, like blood through your veins. It's a part of you, it's always there, you just have to feel it. Do you have it so far? The feeling should be there, faintly. Just remember the feeling of the flowing water in the ocean. It's just like that."

Hattori's eyes were still narrowed in concentration. Iruka waited patiently. Kakashi had seated himself on the floor and was watching the pair with a sort of detached interest, as if he was only watching because there was nothing else to watch. His eyes, however, followed Iruka's movements very carefully, belying his air of boredom.

Hattori jumped slightly. "Iruka-sensei, I can feel it!" he said excitedly. Iruka smiled.

"Very good! That faint feeling inside of you is the flow of chakra in your body. As you learn more, the feeling of your chakra should get stronger, you'll be able to notice it more, control it more. For now, a faint feeling will work just fine. Remember how I wanted you to think of an ocean? The ocean part of it is very important. You must think of an ocean inside of you. An ocean is huge, vast, and one must wonder how all of it fits inside of you."

There was a pause after Iruka's words where Hattori let the words sink in, and soon his eyes widened, and ever so slightly, Hattori began to tremble.

"Iruka-sensei, how do I keep it in? I can feel it, an ocean just like you said, but I don't know if I can hold it. I want to let it out, it's too much—"

"No!" Iruka said, his words cutting over Hattori's sharply, and Hattori fell into a silence. "Listen Hattori, you must not let the chakra go. That's very dangerous, you could hurt yourself or someone else. I had said this would be hard. You've been doing great so far, well beyond my expectations, but here's where it gets tough. You have to be strong Hattori, and you must listen to me very carefully. Alright?"

Hattori's head bobbed up and down, and his trembling slackened a little bit. His face still showed his uncertainty, but he straightened his shoulders in determination.

Iruka was going to ask Hattori if he was ready, but he snapped his mouth shut. That wasn't the way to do it. He had to make Hattori feel confident, he had to do it in a way that showed Hattori that Iruka trusted him the entire time, that he knew Hattori could do it. So instead of asking Hattori if he was ready, or giving him a moment to collect himself, Iruka launched into the explanation.

"Alright, listen very closely. We started this off with water, so now we must finish it with water. You've got the ocean inside of you, and it's hard to contain. You must remember something, Hattori, and you must _always_ remember it. You can never forget. The chakra inside of you is yours to _control_. It's not some wild rebellious thing that can't be forced. It's an extension of yourself, it's just like your arms or your legs. A muscle to be flexed, something that should respond on command. The chakra is easily tamed, it can flow at your will, and it can be something as thoughtless as blinking. So you must never be afraid of it Hattori. Understand?"

"But Iruka-sensei, what if I can't make it do what I want? What if I let it slip away?"

"It may escape, Hattori, but think of it like crying. Sometimes you can't control it and it just falls from your eyes against your will and you can't do anything to make it stop. You just have to remember to calm down, to fight against whatever fears you have. You have to wipe away the tears, you have to tell yourself that you're in control, that you need to stop crying. This is your body, Hattori. To command it, all that you need is a fierce will. This is all in your mind. Just believe it to happen, and it will."

Hattori took a deep breath, and let it slowly out. Iruka watched with satisfaction as determination grew in the young boy's eyes. What Iruka was saying was getting through.

"Ok, now we're going to use that ocean inside of you to perform the Bunshin no Jutsu. You're going to create a copy of yourself. But before we do that, I'll answer some of those questions for you."

Iruka's voice trailed off, and the teacher sat there, mulling over in his mind what he wanted to explain. For once, he didn't know how to word what he wanted to say. The ideas and thoughts were there, but when it came to explaining it to a little kid, he had no idea how to present it. It always helped to put things into context, relate it to things that the students already understood, but this wasn't something you encountered every day. There wasn't anything like this that they could have experienced. It was something totally new, an original idea that they had never known. But he somehow had to tie it all back into the original context, that the chakra was a vast ocean inside of you, controlled like cupping your hands underneath the faucet and throwing a handful of water at someone.

Hattori was staring at him expectantly, and Iruka stared back at him. He stared deep into Hattori's eyes, which were a rich brown color, clear. He stared into those eyes, and something deep within himself saw something he didn't normally notice. He caught himself thinking of things, comparing things that just kept popping into his head, like someone was throwing him ideas, or he was cycling through a photo album that didn't belong to him, but one he somehow put together. It was a weird feeling, but suddenly he knew just how to explain what he had moments ago lacked the words to say.

From his position on the floor by the door, Kakashi found his attention caught by Iruka's eyes, which were shadowed by the sun shining in through the window. He experienced a sudden, strange feeling, like staring at Iruka's eyes made him feel as if he were slowly moving towards Iruka, as if everything around him was almost imperceptivity drifting forward, being pulled by some unseen force. And Kakashi found himself thinking of things he hadn't thought of in a long time, and he couldn't stop himself from thinking of the one time the Fourth had taken them to one of the ocean villages for a short vacation, and he remembered staring down at himself on the water, and throwing pebbles down to mar the smooth surface and watching the ripples grow bigger across the waves. The memory was brief, however, and it soon died away. Iruka had looked away from Hattori, and the feeling of movement ceased.

"The Bunshin no Jutsu creates mirror images of yourself." Iruka began to explain. "They aren't solid, like you and I, but they have a body that is sort of like a very dense fog, like a ghost. It's merely an illusion, not a flesh and bone copy. It's a jutsu designed to trick your opponents, not fight them. The moment the Bunshin copy comes into contact with an enemy, the chakra is dispelled and the copy vanishes.

"What some people wonder is what exactly is created when a copy is made. They have no solid bodies, but they can speak, move, and think just as if they were the real deal. So are they alive? The answer is inevitably no. The copy that is made is exactly that: a copy. It copies your looks, your thoughts, and your actions, but it can't make any of them independently. The copy you create acts as if it were you, because it knows exactly what you would do in any given situation. So if the copy is attacked by the enemy, the copy would do exactly what you would do in the situation, and nothing different. For all intents and purposes, it might as well be you fighting, because there really is no difference between you and the copy other than you have a flesh and bone body, and it does not. It may not make sense that first, but you will come to understand it. You don't control the copy directly; it moves independently from you. All you have to do is create the copy. After that, the copy will move and act on its own. But it will always do what you want it to do, because it _is_ you, and therefore knows exactly what needs to be done and will do it, in just the way you would have done it yourself. It's just like a ghost, a sort of imprint of yourself. It doesn't have everything you have, like your memories, but it has your personality, sort of like left-over pieces of you, all the things that make up you, but it discards the unnecessary parts. Do you understand, Hattori?"

Hattori had been listening very carefully. "I think I understand Iruka-sensei." There was uncertainty in that voice, and Iruka knew Hattori had only begun to grasp what Iruka was saying. Iruka had been trying to make it very clear exactly when a Bunshin was, and he wondered if he had succeeded. Of course, it wasn't something you learned with just one explanation, but he was sure that Hattori got a good grasp of the idea none the less.

"Good, because now that you have a basic idea, we can begin. Do you still feel the chakra?"

"Yeah. It's not so bad now, but it's still hard to hold inside me. I keep grabbing it, but it keeps slipping away."

Iruka nodded in understanding. "That's why this is the hardest part, especially for someone not used to handling their chakra. What I want you to picture now is your reflection on the water, and only that. Your image of the water must be calm, without any waves or ripples. A flat surface, almost like a mirror. And right in front of you is a perfect image of yourself in the water. That's what you want to create, that perfect image of water. You don't have to imagine it down to the tiniest detail. Just know in your mind what you want, remember that all you have to do is will it, and let the chakra go. It should leave your body through the seal you've created and create the shape your mind gave it. It's important to remember that this is the combination of mind and body. Your body is the container, you hold the chakra, and you create an opening through the various seals you create for the chakra to be released, and your mind gives the chakra shape. So picture that image of yourself in the water."

Iruka didn't know if Hattori could do it. He wondered if perhaps Hattori had been given too much information to absorb. Iruka had explained the fundamentals of what the young student was trying to accomplish, in the simplest way he could think of. It wasn't a simple process, and that's why he waited until later in the school year to start teaching it. Normally, students gradually learned all they needed to know to create the ninja arts like Henge and Bunshin. Iruka had just lumped it all together for Hattori, and now all he could do was hope that Hattori had heard and understood everything and could put what he had just been taught to together. It was unlikely he would produce a good copy on the first try, or even anything at all. But Iruka always had high hopes for his students, so he waited with patience and confidence that Hattori would work it all out.

Hattori stood there, his average face shining with effort, his hands still clasped in the appropriate hand seal. He was still trembling slightly, but it was barely noticeable. Iruka watched as his student tried to grasp everything he had been told. He watched the war going on behind the boy's eyes, as common sense battled with what his teacher told him to be true. Iruka could feel the spark of chakra ignite in him, small at first, wild even, but it was slowly calming down as Iruka assumed Hattori was trying to picture the calm water. A minute passed, and then another, and finally Hattori looked up and whispered,

"How do I let it go?"

Iruka cocked his head to the side and stared at Hattori thoughtfully. "You're releasing the chakra through the hand seal you've created. You should just try to image that the seal causes the chakra to be released. Remember, this is all in the mind. If you think the seal will allow the chakra to leave, then it will. Ok?"

"O-Ok, I'm going to try Iruka-sensei." Hattori said, and there was a tremor of nervousness in his voice. He had never done something like this with his chakra before.

"Remember you have to picture a lot of things at once. You've got to picture the clear, calm water, your reflection in that water, the chakra leaving through your hand seal, and the chakra taking the shape of that image. Try it now, but go slowly."

Hattori stared at his hands, the index finger pointed upwards in a steeple, his hands intertwined together, his remaining fingers in between each other and pressed against the knuckles, the thumbs flat against the hand and facing upwards. He stared at his joined hands, his eyes unconsciously focused on the tip of his steepled fingers, and his eyes narrowed in concentration. Slowly, he began to think of all the things Iruka had told him to picture. He started with the first one, the image of himself staring at calm water, seeing his reflection. He was having trouble with that one, because he had done it before, stared at his reflection on the water, but he had always thrown in pebbles and watched the ripples it created. He tried to banish the image, to picture the calm water just like Iruka told him to, but he kept coming back to the pebbles. He made a frustrated noise, and thought to himself, what would dad think if I couldn't do something as easy as this? He closed his eyes and pictured a calm lake, because he couldn't imagine the ocean as calm. He imagined the calm water, almost like it was a mirror. He made sure he had a firm image of it, just like Iruka had said, before moving on to looking at himself in the water. This one came surprisingly easy. He had a perfect picture of himself somehow standing right on the water, which was now starting to appear like a mirror, and he was staring down at the perfect image of himself, and he smiled, and the image smiled back.

Hattori opened his eyes and looked at the seal of his hands. His eyes, after picturing exactly how his hands looked, grew unfocused, and he was back to standing on the calm lake, and now he was performing the seal exactly as he remembered it, and his image in the water did the same thing and made the seal as well, so now he was staring at himself with the seal in that water. Next, he had a difficult time imagining what Iruka had told him to think of. He was supposed to release the chakra through his hand seal. He tried thinking of that, but for some reason, nothing happened. He couldn't feel the chakra leaving or anything. He drew all of his attention to his hands, trying to make the chakra leave through them, but he couldn't even feel his chakra. So he kept his gaze narrowed at his hands and brought all his thoughts back to just his chakra and thought of what Iruka had originally told him. His chakra was a vast, moving ocean inside of himself, and Hattori thought of the ocean he loved to swim in, and suddenly Hattori could feel the chakra again, but now panic began to set in, because he could feel the ocean, and his body began to tremble, trying to keep it in. It was too much for him to hold, and he needed to get rid of it, and in a panic he thought of his hands, and the chakra leaving, and suddenly it did. But he had forgotten everything else he was supposed to be picturing, and the chakra leapt out of his grasp.

Iruka's eyes widened a moment before it happened. He felt it, but before he realized Hattori hadn't done it correctly, it was too late. The chakra leapt wildly from Hattori and with nowhere to go, it struck Iruka in the chest, who had been kneeling in front of Hattori. The Chuunin was caught by surprise, and the chakra knocked him off balance, and he tumbled to the floor, where he landed with a dull thump. The chakra wasn't powerful enough to actually harm him, but it knocked the breath from his chest and he was forced to lay there until he could breathe normally again.

Hattori was staring wide eyes at the spot where Iruka had fallen. His hands fell to his sides, breaking the seal. He felt empty, and his eyes were riveted on Iruka, who had laid still for a moment before sitting up with a groan. Hattori's eyes began to water, and he ran forward, tears tracing their way down his cheeks.

"Iruka-sensei, I didn't mean to, I swear!" Hattori said quickly, his words stumbling over each other. Iruka locked eyes with his panicked student, and placed a calming hand on Hattori's shoulder.

"It's all right Hattori, I'm fine." Iruka said calmly, making sure Hattori was looking at him and could see his sincerity. "I was just a little winded." As if to prove his point, Iruka picked himself up off the floor and smiled encouragingly at his student.

Kakashi had half risen from his spot by the door when Iruka got hit with the chakra, but relaxed when he saw Iruka pick himself up off the floor only moments after. He hadn't thought Iruka had gotten hurt. Winded, perhaps, but Kakashi doubted that an Academy student could seriously harm a Chuunin. Kakashi grinned to himself, and watched Iruka to see what he would do next. The kid obviously couldn't control his chakra very well at all, and chakra control was something children needed more than a few minutes to learn. Kakashi was curious to see if Iruka could pull it off.

Hattori bit his lip. "I'm sorry Iruka-sensei. I didn't mean to do that. I let my chakra go, but I forgot about everything else."

Iruka smiled wanly at him. "Don't worry, that happens all the time. I'll tell you, I've been knocked on my back by a student more times than I can count. Trust me when I say you are not the first."

Hattori's look was incredulous, which was understandable. Iruka had recently been elevated to near-god status when his students discovered his secret identity as the Legendary Troublemaker. To hear that Iruka frequently got knocked down by mere students would, of course, be met with surprise and probably disbelief.

Looking at Hattori's eyes, Iruka could tell that the young boy didn't wholly believe him. It didn't matter, really, but Iruka foresaw future teaching problems because of it. And all because of one troublemaking Jounin.

Iruka threw a brief glare towards Kakashi, who stiffened in surprise to be on the receiving end of it. Iruka held the glare for a moment before he looked away and fixed his stare on Hattori, leaving Kakashi momentarily confused. What's he glaring at _me_ for, he thought, then realized that Iruka could be mad at him for several very good and plausible reasons.

"We're going to try this again, Hattori."

Hattori shifted restlessly from one foot to the other. "Are you sure Iruka-sensei?"

Iruka flashed Hattori an encouraging smile. "Of course I'm sure, and you should be to. It's your doubt that's holding you back. Never doubt yourself, alright? That's only going to keep you from accomplishing your goals. It's doubt that made you loose control of the chakra, wasn't it?"

Hattori nodded ashamedly. "I had it all pictured, just like you told me too, but I forgot about feeling my chakra. So I thought of my chakra, and the ocean came, and I didn't think I could hold it in, so I let it go, but I forgot about everything else you said, and it didn't do what I wanted it to."

"It's good that you can realize where you made your mistakes, and learn from that. That's a very adult thing to do, and I'm proud of you."

Hattori beamed. "Really, Iruka-sensei?"

"Yes, and now we're going to try it again. I want you to remove all doubt, and I want you to go slowly, make sure you don't leave anything out. Be aware of your chakra at all times, that is the most important thing to keep in mind. Now try."

Hattori slowly brought his hands up into the proper seal, this time not needing Iruka's help in getting all the fingers in the right positions. Iruka watched as Hattori stared at his hands, his eyes taking on that unfocused look as his student thought about what he was going to do.

It was faster this time, and Hattori had no trouble picturing the things he needed to. Every couple of seconds he would stop and make sure he could feel his chakra. Finally, when it came time to release the chakra through the hand seal, Hattori sucked in a trembling breath, and his eyes came up to meet the soft brown ones of Iruka.

They stared at each other, teacher and student, and in the face of the smiling Iruka, who was kneeling before him, Hattori found all doubt sliding away.

"Bunshin no jutsu." Hattori said, and the words came out clear and strong.

Iruka felt the chakra leave Hattori. The Chuunin was kneeling in the exact place he had been before, so if the jutsu went wrong, the chakra would strike him again. Iruka didn't move, and hadn't even thought of moving. He knew, without knowing how, that Hattori would get it this time. He had an inherent faith in his student, like a small voice whispering to him that the boy could not fail. There was nothing to base his faith on, but the faith was there, as clear and strong as Hattori's voice.

So it was with a knowing smile that the chakra halted in front of Iruka, and a copy stood between the teacher and the student.

It wasn't a perfect copy, but it was a copy none the less. It was the same size and shape as Hattori. The colors were paler than they should be, and the image of it seemed off somehow, as if the lines and contrasts were wrong. The face of the copy looked remarkably like Hattori's.

Hattori's hands fell to his sides and he gaped at the copy in shock. Iruka was sure that to Hattori, the copy was absolutely perfect.

"I… I did it!" Hattori said, and his voice clearly mirrored his disbelief. Iruka watched Hattori's eyes as they traveled up and down the copy. The boy's eyes seemed most interested in the copy's face. While it wasn't a mirror image, it was close enough. Iruka could tell the boy was slightly unnerved at having the copy there.

Hattori reached forward to touch it, but Iruka said "There's nothing there. Your hand will pass right through it, and the copy will disappear."

Hattori withdrew his hand in a disappointment, and settled for keeping his eyes on the copy's face. Hattori stood there, almost like he didn't know what to do with the copy. He stared the copy in the eyes, and slowly a smile crept onto his face, a smile of triumph.

The copy mirrored the smile, stiffly, as if it didn't know how. Hattori's eyes widened in shock and he took an unconscious step back in shock.

Iruka hadn't thought the copy could move. Obviously, he had been mistaken, and it only took one look at Hattori's face for Iruka to decide that his student wasn't ready for something like this. Swiftly and discreetly, Iruka reached forward and passed his hand through the copy's back, and the copy disappeared in a small flash of smoke.

"Hattori." Iruka said, and the boy's head whipped in Iruka's direction. His eyes were wide and his mouth hung open.

"It smiled." He said, and his voice was disbelieving.

"Hattori." Iruka repeated, firmly, and Hattori's gaze traveled up to meet Iruka's. Keeping their eyes locked, Iruka said, "I think that's enough for one day. Your dad is probably waiting outside."

At the mention of his father, Hattori visibly brightened. Suddenly, he leapt forward and collided with Iruka in a fierce hug. "Thank you, Iruka-sensei! Wait until I show my dad!" The hug was broken as suddenly as it had begun, and Hattori turned and raced away, past Kakashi and out the door.

There was a silence as Iruka looked after him, a soft, sad smile twisting his lips. Kakashi was also staring at the door the boy had run through, and remarked "Spontaneous, isn't he?"

It was the first time the Jounin had spoke in quite a while, and Iruka had almost forgotten he was there. Iruka stood up from kneeling and stretched, noticing wryly that his stomach pulled slightly when he did.

Kakashi picked himself up off the ground and stepped away from the door and walked over to stand next to Iruka. There, Kakashi set one hand of Iruka's shoulder, looking like he was about to say something, but whatever he had been going to say was lost in gales of laughter, which suddenly erupted out of the Jounin and echoed achingly loud across the previously quiet room.

"What's so funny!" Iruka demanded crossly.

"You… got your…ass… kicked… by a little kid!" Kakashi said between laughs. Iruka scratched the back of his head embarrassedly, a red tinge lighting his cheeks.

"I guess I did…"

Kakashi let out a few more laughs, almost as if for good measure, and attempted to stop. He had straightened and looked like he was about to say something, but the Jounin found himself doubled over laughing again in spite of himself. It wasn't really _that_ funny, but for some reason, whenever Kakashi looked at Iruka, he had the urge to laugh. It was ridiculous, he knew, and irrational, but something about the entire experience seemed to strike some sort of feeling that caused him to laugh. Kakashi was impressed, to say the least, and had wanted to tell Iruka that, but he kept laughing instead. Finally, when Iruka was starting to look slightly annoyed, Kakashi managed to choke down his laughter.

Iruka could still see the twinkle in his eye and knew he was still laughing on the inside. But somehow, it didn't bother him and he was almost inclined to start laughing himself.

"You ready to go?" Iruka asked, directing attention to anything but himself. His cheeks were still red.

Kakashi nodded. "Hokage-sama is waiting, and I dare say he would be upset with me if I were to arrive late again." He said. He gestured towards the open door. "After you, Yuuku no Kokei."

Iruka graced him with a vicious glare, and stalked past him and out of the classroom.

* * *

.Just a normal teaching day for Iruka. But yeah, the chapter just got seven thousand extra words. I just kind of started writing and didn't stop until I looked at the clock and realized it was 6 in the morning. Whoops . 

My rationale for this chapter: "Oh come on. If Elite Jounin Copy Ninja Kakashi can get decked in the head with an eraser, then Lowly Chuunin Iruka can certainly get pwn3d by a student. It's just logical."

Oh, and I WAS going to write the breakfast scene at the beginning of the chapter, but that's when my writing muse was falling short, so I just skipped ahead to the Academy. Maybe I'll go back and write it if I get the chance.


	5. Kyoukun

"It used to be that I was afraid of dying alone. Now, more than anything else, I fear living alone."

Thomas Anthony Perez, Sr.

* * *

_Chapter 5: Kyōkun_

**T**hey left the academy, walking at a leisurely pace, one's strides matched by the other. The morning had dawned pleasant, chilly as the first inklings of autumn crept over the country and the cool breezes came in over the sea. As the day evened out to evening, the gray clouds that had been hovering off in the distance were beginning to cover the skies, in forewarning of approaching rain. The pair walked in silence, their eyes trained forward, and occasionally discreetly towards the man next to them, in a comfortable silence, as they had the night before. But silence never lasted long between them for some unknown reason. As before, Kakashi was the first to speak.

"That was impressive." He said. He was lazily twirling a kunai around one of his fingers, then deftly throwing it up into the air and catching it on another finger to continue the whirl in a sort of pointless dangerous dance. It was amusing to watch.

"Who, Hattori? He has a little trouble, but he's got a lot of potential--" Iruka began, but was cut off when he saw Kakashi shaking his head in mute denial.

"No, not him" Kakashi said, "I meant you." The kunai began to whirl faster now, up into the air and down again, cutting the air with that almost casual hum.

"… me?" Iruka asked, surprised. He was really beginning to wish that Kakashi would put the kunai away, because it was getting to be distracting. He found himself paying more attention to the kunai than what was coming from the Jounin's mouth, and he had the distinct feeling that what the Jounin was saying was very important.

"That was really impressive. The way you showed him how to do it, made it so he understood. Not many people can do that. You're a good teacher, Iruka. I can see why Hokage-sama chose you over everyone else." Words of flattery, but they didn't come out that way. They were genuine words, but there was always that undercurrent of something Iruka couldn't quite put his finger on.

"It's not like there was a mad rush to be an Academy instructor when I was hired. There wasn't that much competition." Iruka half-heartedly argued.

Kakashi's stance shifted. Iruka registered vague annoyance. "You shouldn't downplay your victories." He said, not as soft as before, but a little bit harder.

"Why do you care so much?" Iruka countered. He felt defensive when he knew he shouldn't be.

"Who says that I do?" was the reply.

The question was like a slap in the face. Iruka blinked, then turned away, a hollow echo of the response playing once in his mind, as if to reassure himself that he had in fact heard it. But the response wasn't going away, and it suddenly occurred to Iruka in a flash exactly what the words _implied._

"Look, you're the one who dragged me out here when I didn't want to." Iruka said in return, the first tinges of anger lapping at the edges of his words, hurt in a way that he didn't quite understand.

Kakashi didn't seem to be backing down. Instead, his voice grew harder. "With good reason."

"A reason, maybe. A _good_ reason, now, that's debatable." Iruka quipped back.

Unexpectedly, Kakashi laughed.

Iruka, who had been formulating some kind of biting response to whatever he though Kakashi had been going to say, lost his train of thought.

"Huh?" He asked, more to himself than Kakashi.

"No, really. I'm impressed. You're one of the best teachers I've seen and I've seen a lot. I'm not just saying that either, I mean it."

This totally new change of pace completely threw Iruka off the tracks, leaving him wonder where he had lost the trail. It was almost as if Kakashi had jumped back and completely disregarded the last five lines of conversation.

Iruka ground his teeth together, then slumped his shoulders in defeat. He smiled painfully, slightly. "Thanks, that means a lot to me."

"Why'd you want to be a teacher? You could have taken the Jounin exam." Kakashi asked curiously.

Iruka pursed his lips in thought. "I wouldn't go as far as to say that there was a concrete reason for my perusing a teaching career. Suffice to say that I thought it would be, simply, something I would enjoy doing."

Iruka's eyes flicked briefly away, to the left. Kakashi briefly entertained the idea that Iruka wasn't being as forthcoming as he could be, and decided the idea had enough merit for him to take Iruka's words in a way other than what was presented at face value. Even people lying always weaved truth into their words. Or, at least in his experience, people like Iruka did.

The eyes shifted back to Kakashi almost as if they had never left in the first place. "The Chuunin Exam was easy enough, all things considered. It was challenge enough for me, but it never occurred to me that I wouldn't pass. That was an easy year, or so I was told." A wry smile twisted his lips. "And as I am constantly reminded. But I passed, with only a few scars, and a few less friends."

Iruka exhaled softly, almost a sigh. One hand raised into the air, gesturing vaguely to emphasize his words. "I never had a Haku to show me what being a shinobi was. But I did have the Kyuubi to teach me that it means nothing to the world for a shinobi to die in the line of duty. The only place it matters is in the heart of very few people, and after the incident I became very comfortable with the idea of expendable people. Being expendable, and…" here he paused for the slightest of moments, "and teaching people to be expendable."

Iruka shrugged, and Kakashi was a bit bothered by how nonchalant the gesture was. Somehow it didn't seem to fit into the view he had of Iruka, to be so _cold_ to something.

Iruka shifted his weight, and in that split second Kakashi realized how fundamentally troubling it was to Iruka. Kakashi was well beyond used to recognizing body movements for what they truly are. It took no stretch of the imagination on his part to realize that Iruka wasn't nearly as indifferent as he seemed to be. But still, the coldness was there, in his eyes and in the stiffness of his posture and the hard edge to his words. Kakashi knew the look intimately. He was a teacher himself, though it had been quite some time since he taught any young genin. Nartuto, Sakura, and Sasuke were the first once he ever allowed to pass, and so they were the first young children he had grown attached to. He didn't have the proper viewpoint to judge Iruka in the context of teaching students, since their experiences were too vastly different.

"You enjoy teaching?" he instead asked.

Iruka shrugged. "There are good days, there are bad days. It's often times hard work, and can be dangerous work in times of war."

Here Iruka spoke a practiced line, in a hollow mimicry of Kakashi the night before. "A shinobi must always dedicate his heart to his village and none other. A secret shall never pass from his lips into the hands of the enemy. A shinobi will chose death over betrayal."

Kakashi nodded wisely. "Yes, I can understand that. It's a burden sometimes. So you took job, no qualms?"

Iruka smile. "Qualms-a-plenty." Again, his voice evened out into the monotone of quotation. "The will of a shinobi never hesitates. The feet of a shinobi walk forward without pause, and the eyes of a shinobi never look back. In all things, a shinobi is sure even when he is not."

Kakashi smiled in understanding. "So you walked forward as if that's what you truly wanted, and it grew to be just that."

"Exactly." Iruka agree, and was relieved that Kakashi understood.

The next question caught him off guard. "Ever wish you had something _more_?" Kakashi inquired. The question sounded like it had a hidden meaning, but Iruka couldn't think of what it was.

"Sometimes… I miss the thrill, you know? I miss the challenge. Back then I used to fight a lot, with anyone that I could find, sometimes regardless whether they wanted to or not. The only thing I have to fight now is a group of children and I've had my fill of that. Though they seem to have the upper hand on me lately." He said, smiling wanly and rubbing his chest.

Kakashi laughed. "Indeed they do." Then without warning Iruka caught a dangerous flash in Kakashi's color and his instincts screamed at him. Before he was even quite aware of what he was doing, his body had taken control and jumped backward, barely missing being impaled with a kunai.

"Kakashi what--" he yelled, but quickly shut up as Kakashi threw a handful of shuriken at him. He knocked them away with a kunai he had yanked out of the holster, only to have Kakashi charge towards him. He was still adjusting to the suddenness, and he barely leapt out of the way in time, and felt the cloth on his vest tug slightly. A quick glance showed a tear in the fabric. Wasting no time, Kakashi dropped to his hands and used his leg to sweep Iruka off his feet.

He hit the ground with a dull thud. Kakashi leapt on the fallen teacher, a fresh kunai glinting in the sunlight as a sped towards Iruka's head. Iruka gasped slightly and lunged to the side, feeling the kunai brush past his face. He punched upward with his fist as he rolled, automatically pouring chakra into the strike, and caught Kakashi in the chest, sending him flying backward. Kakashi simply landed on his feet and came charging back. Iruka jumped onto his feet, a kunai in each hand. Iruka ground his teeth together and narrowed his eyes. Kakashi slashed at Iruka's left arm, but Iruka twisted out of the way, his own kunai whipping at Kakashi's unprotected side. Kakashi quickly whirled around, grabbing Iruka's wrist with his hand.

Iruka bit back a cry as he felt the claws of a shuko bit into his skin. Enraged, he brought up his leg and kicked Kakashi solidly in the gut. Kakashi doubled over and Iruka took that opportunity to hit the back of Kakashi's head with the butt of the kunai. The Jounin fell to the ground and Iruka stepped back, dropping into a wary fighting stance and panting slightly.

Kakashi slowly climbed to his feet, rubbing the back of his head and looking slightly dazed. "Ow." he muttered, before attacking once again. Iruka was ready for him this time, and blocked the swipes of Kakashi's kunai with accuracy. He was beginning to get a feel for the way Kakashi moved. He noticed, as with every time he fought, that Kakashi's color was clearly visible. If he watched it and knew what to look for, he could predict Kakashi's attacks and possibly defend against them, if he was fast enough. He saw a minor flash and quickly parried a jab at his thigh, and returned it with an attack at Kakashi's left forearm, where the color was slightly darker. He scored a hit, cutting into the skin and ripping off a shred of his shirt. Kakashi paused and stared at it mournfully.

"I liked this shirt…" he said and threw a punch. It caught Iruka in the jaw and he fell to the ground, seeing stars. Kakashi then dropped down on Iruka, the deadly metal aimed at his unprotected neck. Iruka saw this coming at caught Kakashi's shoulders as he fell and used his leg to push Kakashi up and over his head. He had a brief flash of understanding- _He's just playing with me_- andKakashi landed with a thud on the ground. The two Shinobi lay on the ground, panting more with adrenaline than anything else.

"Well… that was fun." Kakashi said.

Iruka frowned and whipped his hand back, catching Kakashi in the chest, causing an 'oof' sound to fly out of the Jounin's mouth.

"…What was that for?" he demanded, breathless.

"For… attacking me! What the hell did you do it… for?!" He demanded, winded himself.

"You said you… wanted a challenge!"

"Yeah but you've got to… give me more warning!"

"Then… it wouldn't be a real… fight. Admit it! You enjoyed it."

Their breathing returned to normal. "You still went easy on me. It wasn't a real fight." Iruka accused.

Kakashi wanted to say that Iruka had caught him completely by surprise at the very end, and that he had been totally unprepared to counter such accurate counter-attacks. But Kakashi was a prideful man, so he simply nodded.

Iruka growled and sat up, nursing his wounded and bloody hand, muttering something about 'crazy one-eyed scarecrows'. He glared at the bleeding appendage and began to wipe the blood away with the edge of his shirt. He reached into the pack on his belt and pulled out a length of cloth, wrapping it around his hand.

"Here, let me do that for you."

Iruka jumped in surprise to find the Jounin kneeling next to him. He hadn't even heard him move.

Kakashi grabbed the bandage and began wrapping it gently around the wound.

"Sorry." He said softly.

"… it's fine." Iruka answered. "You know, Hokage-sama is probably wondering what's taking us so long."

Kakashi laughed and tied the bandage off, letting the hand go. Iruka pulled it back and inspected it absently, running a thumb over the fabric. "He's probably going to be wondering why we just looked like we got into a fight."

Iruka reached into his pouch and pulled out another length of bandage and waved Kakashi over. The Jounin obeyed, sitting Indian-style in front of him as Iruka wound the cloth around the shallow cut on Kakashi's forearm.

"If he asks, say we got attacked." Kakashi suggested.

"By what? Rabid dogs?" Iruka asked in a voice that clearly indicated that he thought Kakashi was an idiot. "And why do _I_ have to tell him?" he added.

"Because he likes you better. You're like a son to him." Kakashi said smugly.

Iruka opened his mouth to make a come back, but decided against it and settled for giving Kakashi a death glare.

* * *

I'm so sore… I had a 6 hour paintball session on Saturday and I can't walk ;; I've got bruises the size of your momma (ugh, I can't stop using that phrase) … what day is it today? Monday? Yeesh… Well anyways, I did a fight scene! O.o My first one ever… how did it turn out? I imagined the fight in my head and wasn't sure if I made it sound right… So… uh… until next time! (dramatic exit) 


	6. Inki

Could you believe in heaven,

If heaven was all you had?

-Smashing Pumpkins

* * *

_Chapter 6: Inki_

**K**akashi opened the door to the Hokage's chambers and stepped inside, Iruka trailing behind him. Iruka felt an intense relief to finally have arrived. The last two days seemed like the longest days of his life. Everything was happening at a quick unpredictable pace, and Iruka felt good beyond measure to have finally taken a step forward and _done _something, even if it was only making it into the presence of the Hokage in one piece. The Hokage was sitting at his desk, a paintbrush in his hand, signing some papers. He looked up as the two entered and smiled that soft smile of his, smoke from his pipe floating lazily into the air. The air above his head was thick with it already, and Iruka realized that they were, in fact, quite late.

"So good of you to show up, Kakashi. I thought for a moment there your tardiness had rubbed off on Iruka and you two were never going to show up." The Sandaime said wryly, with only a hint of sarcasm. He didn't seem too upset about it, Iruka found himself thinking, on the contrary. The gaze he fixed on Kakashi seemed, to him, a carefully constructed expression of dissatisfaction. Iruka found himself relaxing.

Kakashi laughed. "You know me; I like to make a dramatic entrance." He said it with the air of someone who was very used to saying the same thing over and over but never tires of it.

There was a flash of amusement in the Hokage's eyes, but his word were sharp. Iruka realized suddenly that it was the amusement and calmness that was a sham, and that the Hokage seemed tense, angered. "Indeed. Your attendance is a thing of legends. It is even said that while on mission, a teammate of yours almost died because you didn't arrive on time."

Whatever amusement had been in the air vanished in a flash. There was a sudden wooden expression on Kakashi's face. Iruka recognized an admonishment when he heard it, but he was surprised at how harsh it had been. The feeling of ease he had felt a moment before was fading away, and now he felt guarded.

Kakashi bowed his head slightly in a stiff movement. "Forgive my tardiness, Hokage-sama. It will not happen again."

Iruka felt the words leave his mouth before he had a chance to think about what he was doing. "If you're going to admonish Kakashi, Hokage-sama, then you should admonish me as well, for I was as late as he was."

There was a moment of silence as Sarutobi regarded the young man standing before him. Iruka bowed his head so he matched Kakashi.

"Your punishment, Iruka, I will decide later, since you are so eager to be the equal of the Jounin next to you."

A veiled insult, Iruka registered. There was something wrong here, he realized. There was something in the air that didn't seem right. An emotion, an aftermath, like something had been here, but had hurriedly been cleaned out before Iruka and Kakashi arrived.

Iruka's eyes flicked up to meet those of the Hokage's for a moment, before returning to the floor. He was reminded of the sea.

"And." Iruka said, and he could feel two sets of eyes fix on him in surprise. "You have my condolences."

Sarutobi stiffened. "Your condolences, Iruka?"

Iruka nodded, and prayed that he was not wrong. "Yes, Hokage-sama, for the loss you just suffered. You are saddened by someone's death and for that, you have my condolences."

Time seemed to slow to a standstill. Iruka stood there for an eternity, aware that Kakashi's shoulders had leaned back in a silent message of 'what are you talking about?' and the startled gaze of the Hokage had never left his bowed head.

The silence was finally broken. "Kakashi…" Sarutobi said, and Kakashi looked up at him, and his eyes looked prepared for another admonishment, perhaps for bringing in such an insolent guest. "You said you wanted to show me something?" he inquired, his gaze shifting almost imperceptibly to Iruka. The two teachers breathed out an unnoticeable sigh of relief for having escaped another biting reply, but they were both now keenly aware that the Hokage did in fact looked deeply troubled. His eyes had that hollow quality of one who was physically there, but whose mind was in another 'where'…

_Or perhaps another 'when'_ Iruka thought.

"Yes." Kakashi confirmed, and cleared his throat. His voice gained back some of its old strength, but it was still subdued. "I have something quite interesting." He said, and one hand gestured to Iruka, who lifted his head. "Iruka here has a rather useful talent I'm sure you would… appreciate." He said. Again, that veiled response that had previously bothered Iruka. Like he was constantly hiding something.

The Hokage raised his eyebrows. "Iruka?" he questioned. "Iruka, you never informed me of any unusual talents. And I thought you knew about village code. Anything unique to your person must be reported and documented. You know this, do you not?"

Iruka fidgeted. "Yes, Hokage-sama, I am well aware of that fact. But…" his voice trailed off. Today was being a regular battle of wits for him. He was feeling very uncomfortable, as he had forgotten he had never told anyone about his ability. "I never thought it important." he mumbled, realizing how hollow that sounded, even to his ears.

The Hokage sighed. "Regardless, I can't just let this pass. You're a teacher, Iruka, and you set an example for those you teach."

Iruka bowed forward, his eyes trained vainly on the lines of the wooden floor, feeling heat rise to his cheeks.

Kakashi was exchanging looks between the Hokage and Iruka. In a twisted way, the tables had turned. Now Iruka was receiving the tongue lashing. Kakashi frowned, and he didn't know what to make of the fact that it didn't bother him all that much. Surely, he thought of Iruka in a kind light, but still, the fact that he didn't owe the man any overwhelming loyalty always seemed to rear its ugly head.

"It's fine, Kakashi. He had to find out sooner or later." Iruka mumbled. Kakashi felt a momentary flash of guilt.

Kakashi's hands planted themselves on his hips. "Yes, well, now _I_ feel bad about it."

Iruka's eyes flashed in the Jounin's direction, perhaps confused on the emphasis of 'I'. "Well stop feeling bad, because it's fine." He said sharply. He was embarrassed to be under the glare of the Hokage, but it just annoyed him to have Kakashi even acknowledge it, even though such annoyance was childish at best.

Now Kakashi rounded on him. "Don't get sharp with me! If I feel bad, I feel bad, no matter how 'fine' you insist it is."

"You're feeling bad over something ridiculous. It's my problem, not yours. I came here knowing this could happen, and you didn't. I could have refused if I wanted to. It's not your fault."

Kakashi crossed his arms. "Well fine!"

"Fine!"

The Hokage placed a hand to his face and shook his head despairingly. "Please, the both of you. You sound like school children."

"School children?" Iruka asked, indignant. Being a teacher, he took that as more of an insult than it really was. He lost all signs of shyness and intimidation and turned fiery eyes on the Hokage.

"Would you have preferred me to say you sound like a married couple?" The Hokage inquired, and his eyes drifted back and forth between the two of them, measuring, watching.

Iruka's cheeks colored, mostly from astonishment and anger than anything, but he said nothing. Which was fine, really, because Kakashi said enough for the both of them.

"What?! This, coming from a closet pervert like you?!"

The Hokage was on his feet in an instant. "What did you just call me?" His eyes flashed.

Kakashi glared at him, and felt himself speak before he really thought about what he was going to say. "You heard me. _Pervert_."

The Hokage's fists clenched and a dangerous fire rose in his eyes. Iruka jumped in between the two of them, his hands raised in alarm.

"Look, I think we all just need to start over." He rationalized. This entire meeting was like some sort of twisted dream. Just when he thought had a grasp of the situation, the entire atmosphere changed to something completely different for apparently no reason at all. The rapid-fire feelings in the room were confusing him, and a distant headache began to form.

Kakashi and the Hokage were still staring daggers at each other, but none of them voiced their disapproval.

Sarutobi slowly sat back down in his chair, releasing a sigh that sounded too old for comfort. Indeed, looking at him as he settled in the chair, the Hokage appeared to be every bit of his years, and a few more. It was disquieting, but when he spoke his voice still held its clarity and rough power. "I apologize to the both of you. It has been a trying day for me, and it has made me somewhat… unbalanced. I didn't mean to hurt either of you."

Iruka bowed low. "You also have my apology, Hokage-sama. I showed disrespect to arrive late, and it was unbefitting to someone of my rank and age."

Kakashi always bent forward. "And likewise, Hokage-sama, I apologize for my rudeness. I spoke without thinking on my words, and I only meant them to be biting- there was no truth to them. I am sorry."

There was a moment of silence as their words hung in the air, and a soft smile spread over Sarutobi's face. "It seems we've all had a trying day. Let us start over, and talk like the civilized men we are. Iruka?"

Iruka was relived that the tension was gone from the room, but a knot of nervousness had settled in his gut. He tried to ignore it, but it was insistent. He always felt this way in front of the Sandaime, always afraid of doing something dishonorable. The Hokage was the father figure he had lost, and he unintentionally sought approval from him in all things. Now was certainly no exception.

"Kakashi was correct. I have a… well, I hesitate to call it an ability, but I have a sort of _intuition_ that Kakashi seemed to think is important."

Kakashi took this a cue to step forward. "If I may tell him of the reports, Hokage-sama?"

Iruka didn't understand this question, but apparently Sarutobi did. He nodded. "I trust Iruka's discretion."

Kakashi turned to Iruka. "What I'm going to tell you, Iruka, isn't widely known and isn't meant to be advertised. I tell you this only because I feel you need to know."

This was unexpected. Iruka gave him his undivided attention, and nodded for him to continue.

"We have had, for some time, men tracking the movements of Orochimaru." Here he smiled faintly. "I trust you know who that is?"

Iruka smiled faintly as well, catching the humor. "Yes."

The smile was gone, and the seriousness was back. "He's been moving lately, moving more than usual. He's been visiting countries more frequently, staying long, and moving on to other countries. And he always visits the Hidden Villages."

Iruka wasn't exactly a mastermind at things like this, but he thought he had a fair idea where this was heading. Why else would one of the most powerful shinobi of the day be visiting shinobi villages?

"The last country he was reported in was Kiro no Kuni, and he did make a stop at Nami no Kuni while he was there."

Kakashi noticed the dawning recognition in Iruka's eyes. "Yes, we have reason to believe he's touching old contacts, flexing his influence to see who responds and who doesn't."

"In short, it looks like he's gathering power and testing it out." Iruka clarified.

"Exactly."

"But how can you know where he is? Surely Orochimaru would have no problem evading any effort to track him."

Kakashi grinned humorously. "Perhaps I over exaggerated when I said we had men following him. In actuality, our 'men' are our ambassadors to the other countries. We've told them to keep their ears open to what leaders and the elevated in other countries are whispering. It's hard to miss when you know what to look for. We often have reports of nobles confiding that a man has come to their country and has been worming his way into the power circles and undermining their authority. It takes little digging to find out what we need to know. But that's not what I wanted to tell you."

"Then by all means, tell me already." Iruka said, sounding impatient, yet also to a lesser degree reluctant.

"We can't track Orochimaru because we don't know what he looks like. Each of the 'strange man' reported in each country has been different in appearance, but we know it's the same person. But we never know it until the man has come and gone."

There was a hollow feeling in the pit of Iruka's stomach. He could see, vividly, where this train of thought was going. "And you need me because…?" he asked, even though he could see the answer.

"You'd know, wouldn't you?" Kakashi said softly. "I think you, and only you, would be able to tell."

There was a measure of silence, Iruka's face a mask. Kakashi found it impossible to tell what he was thinking.

The Sandaime looked at Kakashi and Iruka and frowned. "I've never doubted your judgment before, Kakashi. If you think that you are right in this matter, by all means, show me this talent of his." He said. "I don't know what talent Iruka could have that would be so valuable, but I must see it myself before I judge."

Kakashi nodded, seemingly pleased, and paused a moment to consider how he should go about the whole thing. He glanced from Iruka to the Hokage once or twice and stared heavenward as if expecting a little help. After a minutes pause, Kakashi spoke up.

"This, of course, must be done visually. All I need from you, Hokage-sama, are some Shadow clones."

Iruka knew what Kakashi was planning. And, though he was nervous, he knew this was the best way, and probably the _only _way.

"These clones must be made to the best of your ability, or you couldn't truly understand what it is Iruka can do. You are one of the 5 Kage, one of the most powerful shinobi in the world. If Iruka can see through you, then we have hope." Kakashi said, and his visible eye held that glimmer that sent chills down Iruka's spine.

Sarutobi regarded the two men before him, his silent, old eyes measuring, searching. Iruka stood a little straighter. It finally hit him, just then, under the powerful gaze of the elder before him, of what exactly was happening. One day, just one day with Kakashi had seemed to change his entire life. He had been content to his normal life of teaching, of waking up the next day to do the same thing done in the day previous. But now, because Kakashi had seen something in him, and Iruka had let him see it, everything had changed. He now no longer had an idea of what tomorrow would be, or the day after that, or of any length of time into the future. And here he was, standing in a room while the fate of his life was being decided. If he truly had something, if it wasn't just a mild, lucky hunch that struck him now and then, he would walk forward into something dark and dangerous. This wasn't just some average mission he handled every once and a while. They were talking about sending him out of the village, perhaps months, even years at a time, to search for one of the most dangerous men in the known world. This wasn't a game anymore. This had turned deadly serious. Iruka held himself a little higher, and he felt an emotion that he hadn't felt in a long time. Pride.

Beside him, Kakashi smiled.

Whatever Sarutobi was searching for, he must have found, because he murmured a quiet, "Very well," and lifted his hands. Wrinkled, yet nimble hands formed a cross with two fingers from each hand. There, he paused for a moment, his eyes looking thoughtful and calculating. Then the words, "Kage Bunshin no Justu;" issued from his mouth.

Iruka was aware then of a vast, frighteningly powerful chakra, but what struck him most in that instant was the unshakable will behind it. Then the flare was gone, and the chakra was concentrated towards its task.

An eerie sound filled the air, like knives being scraped against each other, as clones slowly began to separate from the Hokage. Even as they were being made, one by one, Iruka felt himself quaver just a bit. They were flawless in a way he had never seen before. Each one, as they emerged, was perfect, and Iruka had the impression that they _were _perfect, down to the last hair on their beards. This was not going to be easy, not by any stretch of the imagination.

At last it was done, and two dozen Hokage stood around the room.

Kakashi's eyes were expressionless, but Iruka had a feeling that Kakashi was deeply impressed. He could hear it in his voice as he spoke. "Yes, perfect. Absolutely perfect." He said, and bowed his head slightly. "What must be done next, Hokage-sama, is a shuffle. You need to be among the clones so we have no idea which one is the real you."

The Hokage behind the desk look intrigued, which was mirrored by the clones around him. He nodded, and backed his chair away from the desk and stood. He walked around the desk, where he paused. As one, the clones seemed to disintegrate into the air. They began moving, fast, so fast that Iruka lost track of the real one in a matter of seconds. Kakashi held on a bit longer in a valiant effort, but also lost sight of the Hokage in the shuffle. That was hardly surprising to either man. The clones were moving so fast that the papers on the desk were hovering, held aloft by the wind of their movement.

The whirlwind died down, the papers that had been lifted into the air slowly floated down, and Kakashi patted his hair, fluffing it back out.

"You turned my hair all pointy." He grumbled, breaking the somber mood of the room.

The Hokage clones around the room smiled faintly. Iruka, who had been feeling tense and nervous, relaxed and laughed.

"That doesn't even dignify a response." He said, and flashed the Jounin a grin, with just a hint of gratitude.

Kakashi's eye danced, and Iruka realized that it had been done on purpose. To him, his eyes seemed to say, 'I've gotten you here and I got you relaxed, and now it's all you from here'.

"Well, Iruka," Kakashi said, and one hand gestured around the room. "Find me the Hokage."

Kakashi stepped away from Iruka, a more symbolic gesture than anything else, his way of saying 'You're on your own now.'

Iruka took a deep breath. This was the moment. It was all decided here. He had never done anything like this before. Honestly, he had never _thought _about it before. Every time, he had just let it all come to him naturally. He didn't even know if it was something that could be forced. He didn't even know what it was he was forcing. It was a foreign effort to him, like trying to figure out _how _to make two plus two equal four, when you were used to just knowing that it did. He forced himself to continue breathing evenly, and to look at it rationally, but that wasn't going to work either. There was nothing rational about it. He either knew, or he didn't. It was as simple as that.

Iruka took a few steps to the side until he faced one of the clones. It stared passively back at him, nothing in its face betraying anything of the truth. Iruka put all distractions aside, and waited.

Nothing came to him. He stood there, staring at the form of the Hokage before him, and felt nothing.

He felt a vast loss, his entire body cold with the sudden realization that he really wasn't going to find it. The wrenching feeling like he had failed at something vitally important tore at him.

He almost called it off just then, but something held him back. A little tickle in the back of his mind. Something that said he was going at the whole thing all wrong, looking at it from the wrong angle.

"Well then…" he said softly to himself. And then he stopped caring.

He didn't care if he felt anything, he didn't care if he found the real Hokage among the fakes, and he didn't care if he woke up the next morning to do the same thing he had done the day before. He relaxed, and took his mind off the subject. He shifted his entire focus to something else. It flittered from the silent Kakashi, to the closed window off to the side that let sunlight stream in from a sun that had just passed its zenith, and then shifted back to his own private thoughts, and he thought of random things, like how he had felt so tired when he woke up this morning, and the odd feeling that the night before had been a dream. He thought briefly about Hattori, and the look that must have been on his father's face when he showed him his new skill. And very briefly, he thought about the floor of the room, and how if you let your eyes see past it instead of focusing on it, the high polish almost made you think you were floating.

Somewhere in the back of his mind, when his eyes grew unfocused as he stared at the floor, something in him clicked. He wasn't looking at it all wrong, he was _looking _at it all wrong. He wasn't supposed to look at it with his eyes. He was supposed to look at it with something else. What that something else was, he wasn't sure. He only knew that in an instant, it wasn't there, and in the next instant, it was. And he knew.

_Just look… and know. How simple… _Iruka thought with something akin to wonder, and he swept his eyes that weren't eyes across the room once before they halted at the Hokage closest to the door.

That was the one who was clear. The rest of them were lifeless. He didn't feel anything to be standing by them. They were so empty that they might as well not be there. He was right when he had said to Kakashi that it was more intuition than anything else. It was just like knowing when you walk out the front door that it's going to rain. You don't know for certain, you just feel it in the air, in your bones. Of course, the gray clouds overheard helped your prediction, just as the impression of a sea green helped seal the choice for Iruka.

"That's him." He announced, pointing to the clone by the door. There was a slight pause, and Iruka could also feel the excited anticipation radiating from Kakashi. Then, the clones around the room dissolved into smoke until only the clone Iruka pointed to remained, and the face of the Hokage stared at him with eyes that held a new glimmer of respect.

"Incredible." He murmured. He stared at Iruka intently and his eyes traced over his face in a calculating manner. "How did you know?" he asked.

Iruka rubbed the back of his head. "It's hard to explain." He said slowly.

Kakashi had stepped forward, and something in his stance screamed triumph. "Iruka told me it was more intuition than anything else. I assume Iruka associated you with a color--", he said, then paused.

"Sea green." Iruka supplied.

"Well that certainly wouldn't have been my guess, but if you say so..." Kakashi said, and his eye was amused.

"It's a natural association." Iruka continued for Kakashi. "Just something that just occurs without thought, like breathing. It's simply the way my mind sees it."

Sarutobi looked thoughtful. "Sea green is a noble color." He said after a moment.

The gleam in Kakashi's eye grew positively wicked. He bowed his head. "Yes, indeed it is, Hokage-sama."

Sarutobi chose to completely ignore Kakashi. He turned to Iruka. "What do you call it? This talent of yours." The Hokage asked.

Iruka shrugged. "If I were to call it anything, I'd call it the Kehaido. To be a little specific about it, I should say it's completely random. It's not something I willfully do. My mind sometimes simply imterprets things differently than it normally does. It has a lot to do with my own personal intuition. For instance, if I looked at you, my intuition _might_ tell me, 'He's sea green'. You, obviously, arn't sea green at all, and I don't actually see the physical color. My mind simply tells me 'This person is sea green'."

Iruka hestiated for a moment, searching for the right words. "You'll have to excuse me, Hokage-sama, but it's difficult to describe.The best way to put it, I think, is to say it's a little like empathy. When I look at people, I see things, _know_ things. I would know intuitively if someone was happy or sad, angered, violent, despressed. My mind just interprets these as colors. As I said, it's just how my mind works, how it connects things. These colors that I 'know' are an indication of the person.

"Sea green is... a murky color. I'd almost say it was a dirty color.Sadness, I think the green would be. Dirty sadness, if that makes sense. _Tainted_, I think is a better word. And the sea... salt water. Tears." Iruka shrugged. "Simple enough, I suppose."

Sarutobi nodded, his eyes gleaming. He was silent for a moment, his eyes full of a thoughful calculating fire that made Iruka considerthat perhapsthe color oftainted witha measure of anger."Truly, this is a wonderful gift."Sarutobi finally said."The possibilities this offers are beyond count. But it is getting late, and I would like the night to think on this. I thank you both. I thank you, Kakashi, for bringing him here, and I thank you, Iruka, for coming." A smile spread across his face. "I will send word for you soon, and when it comes, I want you both to be prepared."

The two men nodded. Sarutobi smiled warmly. "I shall see you soon."

Kakashi and Iruka bowed, then turned and left the room. The door shut softly behind them.

"Let's go." Kakashi said, and promptly latched onto Iruka's arm and started pulling him. Despite Iruka's protests at being man-handled, Kakashi dragged the teacher down numerous halls, through a dozen guarded doorways, and out of the building. He had about pulled Iruka down the walkway to the road when the teacher wrenched out of his iron grip and stared at Kakashi.

Kakashi stared at Iruka, as if measuring him up, then looked away. "How about we talk about this over some ramen?"

Iruka raised an eyebrow at him. "You mean how about _I_ treat us both to some ramen."

"You know me too well." Kakashi laughed, rubbing the back of his head.

Iruka sighed. "Honestly, the things I do for you."

Kakashi laughed. "But I'm so charming! How can you resist this face?" Kakashi demanded, one finger pointing at his face in emphasis.

Iruka gazed at him, deadpan, before turning slowly away and walking off. Kakashi grinned to himself.

"Oh come on, that was funny. Admit it." He called after him, and when the teacher did not comment, Kakashi ran to catch up with him. "You smiled, I saw it! That means you have to buy the ramen!"

"What?? What kind of logic is that?"

"The undefeatable kind."

Iruka stared at Kakashi, looking as if he was trying exceptionally hard to come up with a response to that, and was failing miserably. Finally, Iruka sighed in defeat.

"Lead on, then."

* * *

**Review, your comments mean a lot to me. **

**(In other words, review or die. Kind of like that whole 'cake or death' situation)**


	7. Kuro

Chapter 7

**K**akashi led the way to a small restaurant that rested at the edge of town. Iruka hadn't heard of it, but Kakashi seemed to frequent the place often, by the way he talked about it. Iruka pictured Kakashi as the sort of person to pick a single place and remain loyal to it, rather than someone who simply went wherever his whim took him. The impression didn't really make a whole lot of sense when Iruka thought about it, judging from what he knew of Kakashi, but that is what he felt none the less. You had to look deeper than the surface for some people.

"The patrons are rarely shinobi" Kakashi described. "It's really a place for normal villagers, but they don't mind me much, so long as I keep the destruction down to a minimum. The owner of the place, Asuja, doesn't look too kindly on shinobi, you see, but there's a soft side beneath that harsh exterior if you look for it. Asuja can be a bit testy, but by the cunning use of my charm I've won the dear individual's good side, and we won't be having any problems." He said. "No guarantees though." he added as an afterthought, and his eye had gleamed. Iruka was sharply reminded of the way a cat waits crouched hoping for a mouse to walk by. Iruka sighed inwardly, but did not object.

"Orochimaru."

Iruka didn't want to breach the subject. For the first few minutes, the silence they walked in had reassured him Kakashi would not bring the subject up. He had been relieved, but the more the thought churned in his mind, the more his desire rose to learn more. It wasn't a game anymore, and it wasn't just a passing thought. This was deadly serious, and this was his life. He had to know more, and Kakashi would know about it. All he had to do was ask, and he would be told. That didn't stop his silence at first, but Iruka was never one to turn his back.

"What has he been doing?" Iruka asked, noting detachedly that the words somehow managed to emerge casual. His hands clenched into fists at his sides belied that, however.

Kakashi, if he noticed anything at all, did not acknowledge it. He words were sheer business. For that, Iruka was grateful.

"There are two countries under his direct influence. The Water Country and the Grass Country. The Water Country has obvious strategic purposes. Control the water, and you have instant access to shore lines across half of the Fire Country. There's no way we can watch all our borders. It's a weakness, and it's being exploited.

"The Grass Country took us a while to figure out. There were literally no warning signs. We had them as allies one day, and the next we wake up to find the Grass Country closed. All Grass ninja gone from our village, and all ties cut off. They say they are protecting themselves, but there was nothing to prompt the drastic change in policy. The few ties we had in Grass assured us that they were not aware of any negotiations taking place among their Council.

"It was the loss of the Grass that really woke us up. It was executed flawlessly. Orochimaru's influence must have been absolute for him to shut the country down in a night. Now, we have to watch three borders."

Iruka took this in. "He's working around then."

Kakashi nodded in confirmation. "He ignored the Lightning. They have no borders with us. Taking the Water first was easy – the country was already being strangled by black market businesses and a lack of Shinobi to protect the citizens. After the Water, the Sound Country already his, the Grass was the next logical step. This way, he has a united front that covers the vast majority of our borders. He's backing us into a corner. He's already got a large enough front that we don't have the forces to spare to cover our back. If we loose the alliance of the Rain and Sand we've got a very serious tactical problem, and we're already on edge with the Sand."

"But he skipped a few countries. What about Waterfall?"

"Waterfall is a strong ally. Or, at least, they were. We offered them protection in exchange for their alliance. With more of our forces already spread thin, we can't offer as much as we used to. Our ties are weakening. Again, that weakness is being exploited by Orochimaru. It hasn't fallen yet, but it will soon."

Iruka mulled this over in his mind. "And just how good were our bonds with the Waterfall?"

"Good enough. Our Shinobi worked freely together."

Iruka nodded. Already, he found himself weighing options for decisions he didn't have to make. He had a habit of doing that, of being overly curious about problems, and then finding solutions to those problems, even when nobody wanted or cared about the answer.

"Then we should continue doing that. Obviously, we're spread thin enough as it is, but the pros would probably far outweigh the cons of sending more Shinobi to Waterfall's aid when they ask for it. Obviously, we'd be stretched thinner if we lost the Waterfall and had to watch that border as well, than if we sent even a few more Shinobi as friendly help."

Iruka frowned. "Then again, if you were to lose the aid of the Waterfall, all Shinobi with jobs or missions there would probably just be sent to watch that border, so no Shinobi would really be excessively spared, and our forces wouldn't be that taxed. Everyone would just stay where they were."

Iruka wasn't really aware of Kakashi staring at him. He was mostly thinking out loud anyway. He found that it helped him think better. He was more prone to find errors in his argument if he spoke it out loud. It was so much like having an argument that he unconsciously filled in what a dissention opinion would say, then amending his own to cover the hole, and then continuing the process over and over until he could find no holes in his argument. It didn't strike him as an odd way to approach a problem, though he realized on occasion that he must look like an idiot arguing with himself.

Iruka continued, "The only thing we would lose at all would be information. Obviously, Waterfall shares borders with enemy as well. That's a small relief to our forces. That would just be one less area to worry about, plus we'd have more venues of information available. If we're going to prevent ourselves from falling into the same trap the Grass must have, it would do us well to watch Orochimaru's approach to the Waterfall."

"Do you think we weren't watching the other countries?" Kakashi suddenly asked. "What do you think happened to all the Shinobi in the Water Country, and the Grass? They're still there, except every day we loose a few more in hostile territory, and those must be replaced by more people. There's a significant difference between watching friends and watching enemies. They're slowly eating at us, Iruka, piece by piece, and when we start to lag, they're going to come full force while we scramble. We just simply can't keep going forever at this rate. One day we're going to slip."

Iruka shook his head. "I'm not denying those facts. I realize the difference between friends and enemies. I'm simply saying that we're at a good pace right now, and I speak as someone who logs mission reports for hours every day. We're not in immediate danger of losing Waterfall. Political borders may be weakening, but personal ones are not. Orochimaru can corrupt the government, but he can't take the time to personally corrupt every friendship and due loyalty between the Leaf Shinobi and the Waterfall Shinobi."

Kakashi shook his head again. "He doesn't have to take that time. As a Shinobi, you know there is a higher loyalty than personal bonds, and that's the loyalty between yourself and your country. Orochimaru isn't just going to take over the government, then order the Waterfall to attack us. You're right, there would be too much dissent. He needs leverage over them, and he has it. The size of his forces can easily overwhelm the Waterfall, and if he can do it to the Grass, he can do it to them. What's more is that everyone knows it. If Orochimaru gives them the ultimatum "Attack or die", where do you think their loyalties are going to fall?"

Iruka mulled this over. "You're right on one account, but wrong on the other. Right now, if I were to be attacked by an enemy, what would be the first thing that you do?"

Kakashi narrowed his eye. "I'd defend you."

Iruka nodded. "And why is that? Because we are friends?"

Iruka hadn't really considered the question before it emerged, and as the words hung in the air, there was an uncomfortable silence. Belatedly, Iruka thought that perhaps he should have put it another way, but he had to find out sooner or later. What did Kakashi think of him? Iruka was no stranger to people disliking him. Many people found his demeanor annoying or childish – he was well aware of his faults, and realized that he was a person that people needed time to adjust to. He was so used to children that sometimes he found himself acting half like a kid and half like a teacher, or just one or the other. At some low points, he often wondered if perhaps he had forgotten how to act around adults. It was ridiculous, he knew…

"Because… we are comrades."

_Not friends, then._

Iruka shoved that trail of thought to the back of his head and plowed forward. "If the Hokage told you to kill me, would you do it?"

Kakashi blinked once, and his eye grew thoughtful. "Yes, I believe I would. However… I think I would question the order."

"And the leader who gave it to you."

Kakashi grudgingly nodded. "Perhaps."

Iruka suddenly grinned, and a sliver of tension in the air dissipated. "Speaking as one who was quite adept at brewing dissent, I think I have a good point of view on this. What would you do if the Hokage had you kill me, then had you kill, say, Gai? And after that Asuma, and Kurenai as well. Then he ordered you to kill their students."

"That's not the same thing."

Iruka's eyes were alight with fervor. "But it is! Don't you see? I personally had close friends in the Water Country. If the Hokage were to come to me and order me to kill them or be killed myself, what side do you think I would choose?"

Here, Kakashi shrugged. "I don't know." He said honestly.

"Can you really trust that?" Iruka asked. "Can you really trust not knowing? Can you operate a military without the trust of your troops?"

Iruka's face was so intense that Kakashi found himself taken back.

"You can't control people like that. Especially people used to free will and a cause. They will fight for you, yes, but they will turn on you every available opportunity… and they will always win in the end. Always."

"But", Kakashi cut in, "can _you_ really trust the hearts of those people? Not everyone fights for a cause, and not everyone is as noble as you make them out to be. Some people will kill to preserve their own lives, no matter how unjust the cause. If I put a kunai to Sakura's throat and told you to kill Naruto, what would you do? You can't just assume that they will do it, and then they will rise at a later date to overthrow the injustice. It's a tragic, romantic thought, but unrealistic. Their live are in that one moment – once you kill Naruto, that's the end. It will always be a loss, never a victory. You may hate the man who made you make that decision, but are you going to rise up, when the next time you know he will just put a kunai to Ino's throat and tells you to kill Shikamaru? There are too many ways Orochimaru has power over them, and friendship just can't cut it. People love themselves more."

When Kakashi stopped talking, he was staring at Iruka's face. The expression was unreadable – Kakashi couldn't even begin to fathom what he was thinking. What really caught him then were his eyes. Shinobi were always veiled, always hiding. They had grown so used to looking in other places for emotions that Kakashi didn't even bother staring at Iruka's face. He stared hard into Iruka's eyes, searching for an answer to a question he needed to know. What he saw there was something he couldn't connect with. He saw an unreadable emotion, and depth that was like looking into a well so deep he could never hope to see the bottom. He saw hopelessness, he saw anger and hatred. There was deep frustration, and a strong sense of regret.

Iruka blinked and Kakashi lost it, but the smile on Iruka's face was suddenly brought to his attention. It was thin, ragged, forced. It was… relaxed, absolute. Kakashi didn't know.

"I guess we just need to have faith." Iruka stated, as if it were some noble fact of the world, an answer to every problem ever presented. And in that moment, it made perfect sense to Kakashi.

"Faith, then." Kakashi agreed, and silence fell once more.

Overhead, the sky was an overcast slate gray, looking as if someone had simply rubbed away at it and left behind an empty stone color. Clouds, more of a fluffy gray than the dark heavy gray of storm clouds, shifted above them. It was obvious that it would rain heavily soon however, probably within the next few days.

_It's all rather nice_, Iruka thought as they opened the door to the ramen restaurant and stepped inside, _but I still don't seem to know anything about him_. Iruka mulled that little fact over in his mind. When he got right down to it, Kakashi was just an acquaintance, a distant friend at best. When they opened the door a small bell rang somewhere in the back of the restaurant and a kindly looking woman appeared out of a back room, her hands full with trays of steaming rice and other warm food. She grinned broadly when she saw Kakashi and walked over to greet him.

"Kakashi, it's been a long time! For a while there, I thought you had ditched us for a fancier ramen restaurant." She chided lightly. Her face was smooth and free of marks, but she could only be called comely at best. Her cheeks were tinged with a ruddy red color, and her nose had an odd shape to it, almost as if someone had broken it and it hadn't healed properly. But her eyes were soft and kind and the smile on her face was warm.

Kakashi laughed and said, "You'd probably break my arms off if you caught me going to one of your "rivals". I keep coming here to keep my good health."

The waitress let out a hearty laugh. A few of the restaurant's patrons glanced over. "You're lucky my arms are full or I'd give you a good whack upside the head." She nodded to the customers seated around the restaurant. "I've got to get back to work, so you just run along to your usual spot and I'll be back there in a bit."

Kakashi nodded and the waitress walked away, but not before Kakashi gave her a pert slap on her behind, causing the woman to turn around briefly and flash him a death glare. Kakashi chuckled and glanced back at Iruka. "Just follow me; I've got my own place to eat here."

Iruka, rather amused at the Jounin's banter and antics, nodded. "Lead the way." He said, gesturing grandly.

Kakashi said over his shoulder, "That was Asuja, by the way."

Iruka started. "Her?"

Kakashi's eye danced. "Yes, her. Expecting a man, weren't you?"

Iruka kept his silence. Iruka had been almost positive that it was going to be a man. He hadn't really considered that it wouldn't be. Now, looking back, Iruka realized a pretty good clue to the contrary had been the 'winning with the cunning use of charm' bit from their conversation on the way over. Iruka had a tough time picturing Kakashi charming a man. Not that it really bothered him, but it seemed like Kakashi was always trying to one-up him, whether the Jounin did it consciously or not.

Kakashi walked towards the back of the restaurant and Iruka dutifully followed. He noticed with surprise, while glancing around the restaurant, that some of the customers were throwing him strange glances. Not all of them, but a few were wearing looks of mistrust and curiosity. He hadn't really looked around the restaurant yet and did so now, noting how full the tables were and how good the food smelled. The whole place was rather small, but it had a cozy feeling. There was a lot of talking, that dull roar that always seems to exists in popular restaurants. But… there was also a nagging feeling. _They look strange_ he caught himself thinking. _They look…angry?_ He thought, confused. His eyes danced quickly over the tables. _No, that's not right, most of them seem rather happy._ But the feeling of… some kind of deception lingered. A light was flickering overhead and he stared at it as he walked by and tried to pick up some snatches of conversation. Some of it was hard to make out, for they were spoken in guarded whispers, but portions of conversation reached his ears. A few seemed to be directed at himself and the silver haired Jounin he stood behind, but not many.

Dinner table gossip didn't interest him, he viewed it as a waste of time that didn't seem to have any practical purpose other than bored entertainment. Well, some of it was informative for the general feel Iruka got for the place, but he was not going to jump to conclusions over dinner gossip. If people whispered behind his back, it was helpful to know what they said, but he didn't really care about the words themselves.

Iruka was an intelligent man, and prided himself in his ability to piece things together, to pick the truth out of the lies. And he had honed this ability to perfection while teaching Naruto. It was amazing how many excuses that kid came up with. Particularly that one incident where he had apparently put something in the city plumbing that caused an alarmingly large number of toilets to blow up. It wasn't difficult to catch Naruto in the act; he had fallen asleep next to the unscrewed pipe he had used to put whatever it was into the plumbing system. His excuse for it? Iruka-sensei, I dropped one of my shuriken into my toilet at home and I was hoping to catch it before it made its way into the sewers. Or something like that, it was hard to remember all the pranks that kid pulled. _Those were good times _Iruka thought. _A pain in the ass to fix, but they still managed to make me laugh_.

Using his Cut Through The Bullshit technique, he guessed that Kakashi probably came here because it suited him, if his greeting with the waitress was any indication. But bringing a guest with him seemed a rarity. _Not surprising,_ Iruka mused, _But you'd think he'd bring someone like Gai with him a few times. _It also seemed apparent that Shinobi weren't particularly welcome. It didn't surprise him – Shinobi were often unpopular among civilians.

Kakashi lead Iruka to a small door at the very back of the restaurant. It was a rather nondescript door with the word 'Private' on a small plaque nailed into the wood. Next to it, someone had carved lightly into the wood an 's'. Cute. Kakashi opened the door and gestured Iruka inside.

The room was rather small, all things considered. It had a single mahogany table and a set of chairs that looked old and worn. Only one chair was pulled up to the table, however. The other was pushed carelessly into a corner, covered in a fine layer of dust. Iruka cast one last look at the whispering crowd as he stepped through the door. A strange tight feeling settled in his chest. His mouth tasted… orange. That was strange. But as soon as the impression of the color came, it was gone and Kakashi shut the door.

"Welcome to my humble abode." Kakashi said, waving his hand at the room. Not that there was much to wave at. Besides the table and chairs, there was a single window with the drapes pulled closed. The whole thing felt dreary. Or secretive, like they were in some secret chamber where the bad things after dark were planned.

Iruka gave the room a cursory glance. "Cozy. Could use some color though." He said.

"I'm not much of a decorator." Kakashi grinned. "Though I did consider putting some flowers on the table." Iruka looked down and noticed that the table was covered with a simple white tablecloth and nothing else. "But I thought it would give off too much of a sissy little girl vibe. Don't want people thinking I like to pick flowers or something."

"Guess so…" Iruka murmured. He fell silent.

Suddenly a nagging feeling tugged at the back of his mind. It… felt kind of like an itch, but it didn't actually _itch. _The room seemed to go fuzzy for a moment, as though he were drifting. _Shifting._ A sort of feeling where he was sliding into a different state of mind. A thought drifted through his head, something like 'This can't be happening…', then the feeling that something _was happening _seemed to imbed itself in his consciousness. He felt his whole body tense. His fingers twitched nervously and he clenched them in a fist. Somewhere… somewhere… someone was…

Kakashi cocked his head to the side and peered at Iruka. "Is something wrong? Usually you'd say something more sarcastic than 'guess so'."

Iruka gave his head a slight shake and shrugged, aware of a dull buzzing sound in the background, as if his hearing were getting fuzzy as well. He felt a chill go through him. What on earth had that just been?

"I don't know… it's like--" He paused, realizing that he didn't _know_ what was wrong, let alone understand what he was thinking. But Kakashi was giving him a weird look so he tried to explain. "It... seems like somewhere there's… there's something… there's something wrong." He finished lamely. He scratched the back of his head and noticed he was developing a small head ache.

"Something wrong?"

Iruka rubbed his eyes with the back of his hand for a minute, white spots dancing across the inside of his eyelids. He was rubbing too hard. When he pulled his hand away, he had to blink several times to clear his vision enough to see. Kakashi stared at him and didn't comment.

"I don't know. I think I'm just tired." He admitted. _But that's not right_ he thought silently. _I'm not tired, I'm… weak_ he realized with some surprise._ That's what it is. I feel weak, like my arms are getting heavier and my legs won't move and there's some heavy weight pressing down on me, suffocating me…_

"Maybe you're just hungry." Kakashi offered. His voice was oddly veiled. Iruka focused on him. "Asuja should be here in a few minutes." He added.

Iruka hesitated, then nodded. He closed his eyes briefly, and took a deep, steadying breath. He stood there, breathing in and out, reassuring himself of something he couldn't quite explain, and then when he felt somewhat normal, he opened his eyes.

Kakashi was retrieving the chair from the corner, staring down at it with a mournful look in his eye. "Sorry. It's a bit dusty. I don't have company here often." He apologized, and made an attempt to sweep off the dust with his hand.

Iruka found it wasn't too hard to smile. "That's surprising. You seem very popular with the ladies."

Kakashi flashed him a feral look. "Are you throwing my manhood into question, dear Iruka?"

Iruka was eternally grateful to find his unease sliding away so simply. "Your manhood, my friend?"

In the next instant, Kakashi was suddenly standing so close Iruka could feel the Jounin's heat through the facemask. "I can assure you, Iruka…" he whispered softly.

A hand was on Iruka's chest, gently pushing him back towards the table. "that I can be…"

His back bumped up against the edge of the wooden table. "K-Kakashi!"

"…very…"

A harder push, and Iruka found himself lying on the table. The Jounin's weight was pressing down on him. Kakashi's face was so close, Iruka could feel Kakashi's lips flutter against his as he spoke.

"… _manly_."

And suddenly the weight was gone, and Iruka could catch his breath. "You… you _pervert_." Iruka gasped.

Kakashi laughed, loud and freely. "I'm sorry, but I can never help it around you. You're so fun to mess with."

Iruka had one hand pressed to his chest protectively. "Pervert." He murmured again.

Kakashi motioned to the chair, and sat down in his own.

Iruka stood there uncertainly, trying to find his equilibrium, and after he felt like he had more control over everything, sat down in the proffered chair.

There was another moment of silence. Kakashi tilted his head to the side

There it was again! Except this time… someone was laughing. Laughing? They were having a good time. A good time, but there was a violent shadow lurking… lurking… no, it was hunting. Hunting for warmth. It wanted him… wanted… no… For a wild moment he though _he_ was the shadow and for a moment it even looked like it. He was tall and dark and bloody, there, right there! Blood dripping from his hands. And what was that in the background? There were… voices. Voices and bodies. Horrible bodies, twisted and scarred. Had he done this? Part of him screamed Yes! Yes, this was me! But no, suddenly it wasn't. It was someone else, someone… he didn't know who. And there it was. The man who had done this. But he looks… like a shadow. No, that's not a shadow. _That's his color _someone whispered, someone who sounded like himself but horribly cold and emotionless. It was a horrible black, inky and greasy and dripping. It made a puddle on the floor beneath his feat and he shied away from it.

And for an instant the vision disappeared and he was standing in the little room again with the table and two chairs and the closed window. Kakashi was in front of him, his hands on Iruka's shoulders.

"Iruka?" he was saying. "Iruka!"

Iruka opened his mouth to answer but the words never left his mouth. A horrible weakness fell over his body and he felt his knees giving way. He was dimly aware of falling to his knees and suddenly the room disappeared, the floor melting away in a swirl of brown and black along with the table and two chairs and the window was melting, dripping down the wall. Kakashi drifted away into the distance, leaving only a dim cry of 'Iruka!' in his wake. And suddenly he was in darkness.

* * *

A heartfelt thanks to all of you who reviewed, you guys are inspirational! Not to mention helpful, like… flips thru reviews Cat, Avatar of the DCG who seems to actually KNOW who Eddie Izzard is, so that's like a bazillion cool points, and Darkblade who (apparently) knows more Japanese than I do and was nice enough to correct me (very very helpful), and IansKoibito who… well I dunno, I just really liked the review, and… everyone else!

(Insert very witty and funny closing comment here)

(Insert hearty laugh at very witty and funny closing comment)

(Insert a hint to review here)


	8. Yume

This is Iruka's dream/vision. As such, it does not make sense. All will be revealed in do time. Thank you for encouragement and your great reviews. You are my inspiration ^_^ 

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**Chapter 8**   
  
  
Not black darkness, but horrible devoid gray. And just as suddenly as the darkness had come, shapes were surrounding him. Different color shapes, colors that were familiar. Dear god, was that his mother? And there, yes there! His father. And students, students long dead and long graduated. And Naruto and Sasuke and Sakura and Kiba and Shino and Hinata and Ino and so many others. But they weren't looking at him. They were fighting… who? There was blue and orange and pink and another orange and a terrible terrible red. Yes, there was laughter there to. But it was a horrible laughter, a dark deep red laughter. It sent chills up his spine and caused the hair on the back of his neck to stand on end, like someone had just run their nails across a blackboard. He gritted his teeth against the noise, willing it away.   
  
The shapes were moving fast now, faster and faster and faster until it was all just a whirl of color that his eyes could not follow. And it was getting brighter, more blinding and never stopping. Then, just as suddenly as everything else, it all faded away and he was left standing alone in the gray. But now it wasn't gray anymore. It was growing darker and darker and yes, now it was black. And he wasn't standing anymore, he was on his back. And there was… pain. A burning blinding agony kind of pain. There was the vague feeling that something profoundly horrible was happening.   
  
And there was red, red on the horizon. A red that was as brilliant as the pain spiking in his back. His breath shortened into quick wheezing gasps and he was clutching his chest because it was starting to hurt there too. Suddenly he desperately craved light. Any form of light and long as it was bright and warm and chased away the burning that was creeping up his spine. He tried to get up, to go search for his light, but he couldn't move. His arms and legs felt like leaden weights and it was all he could do to raise his head. He slumped down in defeat. The need for light was eating away at him, he _needed_ it. The desire for warmth gnawed at him just like the pain. And the pain was getting worse, it felt like someone was stabbing him in the back over and over and there was a terrible burning and his vision was going dim and he could hear screaming.   
  
High pitched pleading screaming that cut its way into his ears and his eyes were watering, crying, because it was him screaming and he never wanted to hear that scream. And the pain never stopped. And there it was again, the laughing. The evil red laughing. It was taunting him, teasing him.   
  
I'm causing your pain it screamed at him. _It's all my doing and I love it so it will never stop. This is your punishment Iruka!_  
  
Iruka screamed at it, screamed that he hadn't done anything and to please make it stop. The laughing was grinning now, an evil sinister grin that seemed to cut into him like a thousand knives, knives that were already ripping out his spine and cutting into him, searching for his heart.   
  
_Oh but Iruka, this is punishment. You've been a naughty boy. You shouldn't be here Iruka. You shouldn't be here while I am not. Naughty naughty boy._  
  
"No!" Iruka screamed. "I'll be good, I'll be good! Please make it stop! Please please please please--"  
  
But now the pain was spreading into his chest as if invisible hands were grasping his ribs with ice and twisting, twisting, and Iruka screamed more, pleaded more.   
  
"No, please! It's so cold, make it stop! I can't stand the cold!"   
  
And now it was laughing again. _Cold?_ It sneered._ This isn't cold Iruka. This is **you**._   
  
Iruka screamed louder, the twisting turning to breaking and he could feel the pressure bearing down on his chest, an invisible weight bent on crushing him.   
  
_Oh, but Mercy I will give you, Iruka. Better yet, I will give you Fire. Oh yes, delicious red fire. It will consume you, Iruka of the Iro Kehai, consume you until your ashes blow in the wind and you never were and I was. The fire will eat its way into you, tearing you apart. And you will beg for it to stop before the end. _  
  
"Oh anything just stop the cold, I can't stand the cold because it burns it burns OH GOD IT BURNS its breaking me and I can't see, I can't see." Iruka babbled. A rib cracked with a sound like a gun shot and his eyes were watering and oh god that agony, please make it stop, anything for it to stop.   
  
_A gift then. Fire. All yours Iruka, keep the Fire I give you._ The laughing grew louder and louder and shrill and there was something so wrong about it, so dark and cold like a winter storm that Iruka moaned and longed to cover his ears with his hands but he couldn't move them, there were stakes through them, his hands were staked to the floor.   
  
"OH GOD PLEASE STOP STOP ITS SO COLD PLEASE STOP I CANT MOVE I CANT NO NO COLD ITS BURNING ME PLEASE IT HURTS MOTHER IT HURTS PLEASE HELP ME--" he raved, screaming at the top of his lungs and sounding like a little boy crying for his mother, because that was indeed was he was doing.   
  
And then there was Fire. The laughing faded away and tears traced their way down Iruka's face. A thousand words of 'thank you' raced though his mind because the horrible laughter was gone and the Fire had come. Oh yes, sweet delicious Fire, as promised. He could feel it on his face. The Fire was above him, smiling at him and crackling merrily.   
  
"Closer" he whispered. "Your so warm, come closer."   
  
And the Fire obeyed. He felt his face getting hotter and hotter. The Fire was touching him now and the burning cold pain didn't seem so bad anymore. Iruka sighed and longed to reach up and touch it. And suddenly he could. His arms would obey his command and they reached up to touch the Fire that was so close above him. But when he saw his hands a horrible feeling came over him. There were holes there, holes through his hands where the stakes were and there was blood dripping down them, dripping down his arms to form puddles, puddles that were big, too big. And his stomach churned and he turned to the side and threw up more blood and at the sight of it he began to get hysterical. A sudden burn blossomed on his cheek and he shrieked and stared up at the Fire. Except the Fire was gone now and it was _inside_ him now. And it burned, oh god how it burned. The pain in his back was gone, and his hands didn't seemed to matter any more. Because the Fire was eating him. Oh yes, eating him, devouring him. He screamed, screamed as if he had never stopped. Every inch of his body seemed on fire, was on fire and he could feel his arms and legs and fingers and his face _melting_, and it was agony. He longed for the cold of before, the comforting ice that had seized him and twisted him but now there was only this Fire. If only he could run from it, leave it behind. Yes, that is what he would do. Raving in hysterical insanity he lurched to his feet. How he managed that is beyond possibility. It felt as if he had no arms, no legs. They were burned away, the Fire eating his veins and muscles and burning his blood. And now that he was on his feet, the Fire froze, froze eternally in his very being, a Fire that would always burn him, always scar him. A Fire that existed inside him, tearing and screaming.   
  
"Run? Should I run? No, running is long past. Instead… I will stand." He said softly to himself.   
  
An eerie music reached his ears. Music? Impossible, he was insane, crazy, hallucinating, there was no music in this place of darkness. There was only the Fire, the red Fire. But yes indeed, there it was. Music. A stead relaxing twang that seemed to vibrate his entire body. Yes, yes it was vibrating his body and moving it. Moving his legs in fluid movements, waving his arms in graceful gestures and his eyes were turned heavenward, up where the sun should be. Yes, the sun was singing to him. And his hips began to weave back and forth and he realized with pleasure and terror that he was _dancing_. Dancing when the Fire consumed him, dancing when the cold began to eat its way into his back again, grasping his ribs and twisting, forever twisting.   
  
And he began to laugh. Not the dark twisted laugh that had taunted him but a sweet merry laughter that felt like a soothing waterfall that was pouring itself down his body and pooling at his feet. And his feet were kicking up splashes of it that were dancing along with him. But it never quenched the Fire, it could never douse that inferno. But the water danced with him and the sun sang to him and he twirled and moved until the Fire had consumed everything and only his laughter hung in the air… and a promise. A promise to keep the fire alive. And a pair of eyes, a pair of tattooed eyes that spoke of fire and pain and death. A pair of eyes with laughter lurking in their depths and a burning consuming promise of power. 


	9. Monogatari

"The human heart feels things the eyes cannot see, and knows what the mind cannot understand."  
-Robert Vallett

* * *

_Chapter 9: Monogatari_

**W**hen Iruka opened his eyes he found himself staring at the ceiling. Or at least it _looked _like the ceiling. It was hard to tell, his eyesight was blurred and his eyes burned.

Burned…

With a gasp Iruka lurched upright. Before he could leap out of bed a pair of hands grabbed his shoulders and held him in place with a strength that was surprising.

"Calm down Iruka. You're all right." A voice soothed.

Iruka let out a shuddering sigh. He knew that voice. "Kakashi…" he whispered. Relief flooded through him, so strong that he felt lightheaded. He bit his lip to prevent letting out a sob that seemed to be trying to force its way up his throat.

Kakashi let out a dry chuckle. "Yeah it's me."

Iruka turned his head to stare at him. He was paler than usual and looked… tired. He was seated on a chair at the side of his bed, draped over the wooden thing in his usual casual slump. "What… what happened?" Iruka asked slowly, the words coming out of his mouth thickly. He began to slowly take in his surroundings, noticing the bed he was laying down on, the unfamiliar room he was in.

Kakashi's face turned serious, though it really wasn't much of a change from his previous expression. "I was going to ask you the same thing." He said quietly.

Iruka took a deep breath and let it slowly out. "You first." He said, and grimaced at how weak and hoarse his voice sounded. _Probably from all the screaming_ he thought bitterly, and shuddered in spite of himself. He didn't want to tell his tale to Kakashi. It seemed too personal to utter out loud. Too personal and too… wrong. He didn't think the Jounin would understand anyway, and he didn't think he could handle Kakashi not understanding.

Kakashi stared at him silently, but he quickly turned away. It occurred to Iruka that Kakashi might not have an answer, or even a response. After a moment however, his musings were cut short by Kakashi's voice.

"I don't honestly know what happened Iruka, and I'm not sure if I want to hazard a guess." he replied honestly, spreading out his hands as if to show that he held no answers.

Iruka digested that sentence, mulling it over in his mind. It seemed difficult to think about anything, like there was a haze in his mind. And he felt… disoriented? That didn't seem like the right word. There were thick cobwebs in his brain, dry and burning. It was a headache, and a bad one at that.

Iruka let out a half sigh, half moan, and massaged his temples with his hands.

"I've got one killer headache." He declared.

After a pause, "You didn't, by any chance, happen to partake in some sake earlier today?" Kakashi asked.

Iruka stared up at him incredulously. "Are you insinuating that I would get drunk before I taught my students? A job which, I might add, includes several sharp and dangerous objects?"

Kakashi scratched his cheek thoughtfully before replying. "Of course not." He said innocently. "I would never insinuate anything about you, Iruka-sensei."

"That's what I thought." Iruka said smugly, and felt a small smile tug at the edge of his lips.

"Unless you count this time." Kakashi corrected. "Just now, I was definitely insinuating that you would drink and teach."

Dead silence reigned for a few seconds before Iruka burst out laughing. He knew it wasn't really that funny. He knew that his laughter probably sounded forced and he knew he was probably just looking for an excuse to laugh. He knew a lot of things just then, but above them all was one realization. Damn, laughing felt good. He suddenly didn't care how he sounded, what Kakashi thought of him. He didn't care that his head felt like it was going to split open, he didn't care that his eyes were starting to water, and that his laughter was turning to crying, and soon he was sitting on the bed, crying in the silence, his hands clutching the sides of his head. Tears rolled down his cheeks, cool against his warm skin, where they quivered for a moment on his chin, before falling down to be soaked into the nothingness of the bed sheets.

"Iruka…" Kakashi whispered and hesitantly reached forward to touch Iruka on the shoulder, awkwardly, as if unsure of what he was supposed to do. After a moment, he moved closer to the bed, the arm moving from Iruka's shoulder to around his chest. Kakashi pulled Iruka into the hug, and Iruka clung to him fiercely, torn between laughter and sobbing. They stayed like that, clinging to each other, for several minutes, Kakashi murmuring reassuring words, not really noticing what he was saying, just holding on to Iruka and talking softly. Gradually Iruka quieted, and the laughs and tears faded away.

When Iruka at last settled down and wiped the edges of his eyes, he felt better. He suddenly realized how bad he felt, and how good being around Kakashi made him. I wish he would stay with me, Iruka thought. I don't want him to leave me here. With a start, Iruka realized that he had no idea where he was. All he knew was that he was sitting on a bed, in a strange room, crying into Kakashi's chest. Suddenly feeling extremely embarrassed, Iruka looked fixedly away from the Jounin, blushing. There was an awkward silent before Iruka worked up the nerve to say something.

"Kakashi, how long have I been here and where is _here_?" Iruka asked, casting a glance around the room. It didn't look like any hospital room he'd ever been in, not that he had been in an overly large number of them.

Kakashi glanced out the window at the sun, which was shrinking off in the distance. "You've only been here about 5 hours. And here is at Hokage-sama's house."

Iruka raised an eyebrow. "Hokage-sama? His house?"

Kakashi shrugged. "He didn't explain and I didn't ask. I'm guessing he wants to talk to you."

Iruka didn't say anything aloud; he just nodded his head and stared down at his hands. With a soft grunt Kakashi stood up. Iruka guessed, by the way Kakashi was rolling his shoulders and stretching out, that the Jounin had been sitting at his side the entire time. Gratitude flooded over him and he turned his head and looked earnestly at Kakashi.

"Thank you." He said sincerely, if a bit quietly.

There was no reply for quite some time, and Iruka began to wonder in confusion if he had said something wrong. When the reply finally came, he wished it hadn't.

Seriously and quietly, Kakashi asked "What happened, Iruka?"

Iruka shook his head. "It would take too long to explain, and I'm not entirely sure myself." He admitted. He shivered, and rubbed his arms.

Kakashi stared at him. "You cold?"

Iruka shook his head. "No."

Kakashi looked at him strangely for a moment, then coughed and looked away. "You know, Naruto's been worried about you. He would have been here long ago if the Hokage hadn't told him away. Or rather, threatened him, since Naruto has never done what he's told if he doesn't agree with it."

Iruka laughed softly. "That's my Naruto." He said, then fell silent.

Kakashi flashed Iruka a smile. His gaze flickered idly over the room, not really looking for anything, just staring because he found that he was uncertain of what to say. The question that was just begging to slip out from the tight grasp his lips had on them was the 'what happened?' but Kakashi wasn't sure he wanted to ask that again quite yet. It didn't take a genius to know that something had happened that only Iruka could understand, and prying wasn't the best way to find out what he wanted to know. Iruka would tell him in his own time, when he was ready. In the mean time, Kakashi figured he'd try to coax it out.

"You know," he began softly, "I became a Chuunin at the age of six."

Iruka was slightly surprised at the sudden seriousness and the strangely wistful tone of voice Kakashi used, and he realized that Kakashi was about to talk to him. Not chat with him, but _talk_ with him. He turned his gaze to Kakashi's face, and fell into a surprised silence, listening attentively.

"I was so proud of myself. My mother and father praised me over and over and told me how proud they were of me. Back then, to be honest, I didn't really care much about what other people thought of me. I just wanted to do things the way I felt like doing them. And I decided that I would be a Shinobi, in my own way. It came naturally to me, I felt like I was born to do this." Kakashi told Iruka, keeping his gaze fixed on some spot in the distance, his only visible eye unfocused. Iruka stared at him with interest.

"I trained my little body as hard as I could, I watched and I listened and I copied what everyone else was doing, trying to be as good as them. I was enrolled in the academy at a young age, and I became a Genin with such ease I probably could have skipped the academy altogether. I was assigned the Fourth as my Jounin instructor in recognition of my skills. The Fourth…" Kakashi paused. A brief flicker of emotion crossed his face, then he continued in the same monotone he had been using.

"He was a great man, a great teacher. Not just in the Shinobi arts, but in people as well. He taught me so many things, so many different ways to think and perceive the world. He taught me everything he thought I could handle, and a little bit more. I spent a couple months, building up my skills and ambition, and then requested that the Fourth enter me in the Chuunin exam. There was a Chuunin Exam only a couple months away, and I decided then and there that I would see how far I could go." Kakashi said in same tone of voice. His expression never wavered, though Iruka had the vague feeling that Kakashi was telling him something important. Kakashi kept his gaze fixed everywhere but on Iruka. He was talking slightly faster now, as if he wanted to get what he was saying out and over with.

"I entered the Chuunin Exam and was so excited that it presented a true challenge to me, something that had never happened before. I met people that appeared to be stronger than me. They were older, more experienced, but they underestimated me. I was determined to show them just what I could do. I wanted to show myself that I could be something great.

"I passed the Chuunin Exam. I was six. I remember the last match I had. It was against…" Kakashi face took on a wry expression. "…It was against Gai. Gai was the same age as me, a fellow 'genius'. I took an instant dislike to him the moment I laid eyes on him, if you can believe that."

A brief smile.

"But I had been watching him during the Exam, and I knew that he was my challenge. He was the wall that I had to climb over. And I decided that instead just of climbing over that wall, I was going to break it down, make sure it could never stand in my way again. I was going to beat Gai, beat him in such a way that everyone would recognize me. The match started, and about five minutes into the fight, I realized that it wasn't going to be an easy win. It was going to be a challenge, and that got my blood excited. I can still feel it, the way my blood sung and cried for a fight, my whole body quivering with the rush of it. I remember that fight like it was yesterday. Do you know how long that fight lasted?" Kakashi asked.

Iruka shook his head, caught up in the story.

"It lasted two hours. I'm sure you understand how rare it is for a battle to last that long. That's just proof of how impossibly equal we were. Those were the two longest hours of my life. Every moment I savored, every blow exchanged, every jutsu played. God, what a rush it was. I had never felt anything like it before. The thrill of it went beyond anything I had experienced. It was an even match, you see. Gai excelled at taijutsu, while my taijutsu skills were average. I had greater skill with nin and genjutsu, though my knowledge of jutsus was limited, but not so much as his. I had a few jutsus that I had learned from the Fourth, but Gai seemed to have the answers to beat every one of them. Oh, he was good, there was no mistake about that. But I was just as good as he was. We managed to keep at a steady stalemate for two hours before my inexperience caught up with me, and I made a mistake. A stupid mistake, one blow misjudged…"

* * *

Kakashi breathed in and out steadily. It would be stupid now to lose his breath and be slowed down. He flexed his fingers, wanting to keep them nimble. They were his greatest assets now. The jutsus those fingers could perform would be his only path to victory, if victory was what he could achieve.

His gaze kept steady on his opponent, eyes trained on that stupid face, that stupid mask. For a mask is what Kakashi thought of it now, a mask to keep his moves hidden, a mask to keep him off guard. But unlike Kakashi's mask of cloth, Gai's mask was a mask of stupidity.

"Aii, give it up now, Kakashi! There is no hope of victory against the Green Beast!"

The taunts were all old now, but they still made Kakashi grind his teeth together at the idiocy of it. Even though he knew it was ridiculous to get so angered by it, he found he couldn't help it. He was young still, and it was only later that he realized his anger was his downfall. A cool head would have helped him stand back and take stock of the situation, and a calm body was more apt to respond that a tensed up one.

With an effort, Kakashi stopped grinding his teeth. A muscle in his jaw twitched, the only sign of his annoyance.

With no time of preparation, Kakashi leapt forward. His hand dipped down and drew a kunai with blurring speed. His other hand dived into his side pouch and withdrew a piece of parchment, not sparing a glance at the black lines written upon it. His hands came together, rolling the paper around the kunai. A brush of a finger filled the characters on the paper with volatile chakra. He had been planning this, studying Gai fiercely since the fight had began, looking very specifically for the spot that would cause the most damage.

Gai, instead of leaping back to give himself more time and more preparation, leapt forward with abandon, his bowled hair pushed back with the speed of it. His form blurred around the edges as he came forward at Kakashi, yelling a ridiculous battle cry.

Kakashi quickly tossed the charged kunai up, carefully catching the blade with his teeth. His hands moved in rapid succession, one seal after another. "Katon!"

He spat out the kunai, one hand catching it while the other came up to his lips, fingers circled in an oxygen chakra amplifier. Fire issued from his mouth, passing through the ring his fingers made and spreading out into a great ball of heat. Kakashi took a quick flash of pleasure as he saw the comical look of surprise on the idiots face. The pleasure vanished as his opponents form seemed to disintegrate, and the flame passed by harmlessly.

_Behind me! _He thought quickly.

The flame stopped immediately. He whirled around just in time to catch the flash of green materialize into human shape. He barely got his arm up in time to block the punch, and caught the leg that came at him. He blocked the next punch with more certainty, and flicked his wrist around to grab at the bandage covered wrist. He felt a moment's flare of victory, before the wrist twisted itself out of his grasp. In the time it took him to adjust, a knee came up and struck him in the stomach, and he flew back.

His teeth snapped together painfully as his back collided with the stone wall of the stadium. Cracks radiated out from the impact, and his feet came into contact with the hard ground. He wavered minutely, but all trace of weakness vanished as if it had never been there. Kakashi's eyes blazed with anger.

Gai, standing at the same place since the kick, flashed a V of victory with his fingers. "Haha, you underestimated the glory of the Green Beast, Kakashi! A fatal mistake!"

"Fatal this!" he ground out between his teeth. He leapt forward, pushing every ounce of his effort to gain his maximum speed. His movement was just a flash, and Kakashi was satisfied to see that stupid looked wiped off his opponent's face. Gai leapt back this time, his arms shifting into a defensive stance. Kakashi rocketed forward, throwing a punch at that idiotic face with its bowled haircut and bushy eyebrows. Gai's hand came up to meet it, and Kakashi threw all his strength into that punch. His fist was caught by Gai's hand, but the force of the punch drove both of their fists into Gai's face. The green idiot let out a grunt of surprise.

It was with a certain maliciousness that Kakashi tightened his grip around the kunai in his other hand, and without a moment's hesitation, drove it into Gai's thigh, the spot of maximum damage he had been searching from. He took a sick satisfaction in the gasp of pain from his opponent. He carried through his punch, causing Gai to go flying back. Kakashi shifted his legs to gain leverage and leapt backwards, his hands coming together in a seal.

Gai's surprised and pained eyes met with his briefly, before Kakashi looked away. A horrible victorious smile twisted Kakashi's lips.

"Boom."

An explosion rocked the stadium. Kakashi brought his arms up to protect his face, squinting at the dirt and dust that rushed at him.

_That shut the idiot up._ Kakashi thought to himself. He waited with patience as the dust cleared. He tensed. The moment he saw Gai, he was going to rush forward and finish him off. He was bone tired of this stupid match, and he was going to shatter this wall while everyone watched.

The crowd had gone deathly silent, the faces of the citizens surprised and shocked. The shinobi of the other villages were leaning forward, their eyes intent.

The dust cleared, and the twisted smile slowly faded off Kakashi's face.

He began to see through the thick dust, squinting against the sunlight reflecting off the dirt particles. A human form began to vaguely take shape. A rough outline of a body appeared, then the shape became more definite. The dust was rising into the air, so the first thing he saw was Gai's feet. They were a sharp contrast to each other. One rock steady, the other crimson and trembling. The dust rose higher to Gai's waist, chest, neck, before finally revealing Gai's face, which was shadowed and unreadable, his eyes veiled. The left side of his body, where the kunai had exploded, was smoking and charred, his clothing hanging in taters off his arm and leg. Streams of blood were running down his side, pooling on the ground at his feet. His leg had obviously given out, a mass of bloody and charred flesh. His body trembled as his other leg tried to support himself. But he was standing, refusing to fall. His entire body had gone rigid, as if possessed. Kakashi felt a small murmur of grudging respect.

"A fatal mistake." Kakashi repeated. His voice echoed across the silent stadium. For once, the Green Beast did not have a reply. At least not at first. Just when Kakashi was about to race forward and attack, Gai lifted his head.

His eyes were bright and startling, full of a fierce fire that gave Kakashi pause. _Such will, _Kakashi found himself thinking.

"If you think…" Gai said, his voice clear and full of steel, "that I can be stopped so _easily_, you are gravely mistaken."

"Bark, Green Idiot."

Gai laughed, something that didn't reach his eyes. "What doesn't kill me will make me stronger."

"What the hell are you talking about?" Kakashi demanded.

But Gai only shook his head. "I swear, if I lose here, I will run 100 times around the village before I receive medical aide."

"You're insane." Kakashi breathed.

Gai laughed louder this time, the annoying idiot's laugh. He brought his bandage covered arms up, crossed them in front of his face. Kakashi could only see his opponent's shadowed eyes.

There was a pause, and Kakashi suddenly found his breath leaving him. Minutely, the ground beneath him began to shake and tremble. Kakashi's mouth opened slightly and his eyes were riveted on Gai's trembling form.

_The hell—?_

Blue tendrils of chakra began to emanate around Gai, rising off him like steam. Something in Kakashi's chest tightened at the power of it, like he was having trouble breathing. It seemed to suck all the oxygen out of the air. The shaking of the ground grew more pronounced. Kakashi's wide eyes, both of them normal, human eyes, were trained on Gai, watching as the chakra crept off him like something alive. He could see the veins standing out on Gai's face, and wondered what on earth he could possibly do in his state.

"Omote Renge!"

Gai's arms came down, and Kakashi leaned forward against the powerful gust of wind and dust that shot towards him.

Kakashi was caught so off guard that he barely ducked out of the way as a leg swung at the spot where his head had been moments before, feeling something impossibly fast brush past him and he saw a few silver strands of hair fall to the ground. A shower of blood splashed his face. _He meant to kick me with his wounded leg! _Kakashi marveled. But Kakashi was nothing if not a genius, and he struck out with his hand the moment he felt it brush against his hair, and clamped down on the leg. His grip was a poor one, and when Gai whipped his injured leg back, Kakashi's fingers slid off, covered in slick blood.

Gai's other leg whipped forward simultaneously with the withdrawing of his other one. Kakashi brought up an arm and blocked it, his muscles straining with the effort. The power of it sent him skidding back a few inches. He ground his teeth together, feeling a short lightning flash of pain through the muscles in his arms. He should end the fight, and end it now. There was no way that Gai had the strength left to be much of a challenge. This was likely his last ditch effort. If he stopped him now, it would be the end.

Kakashi heaved the leg away with a burst of strength and quickly brought his hands together.

"Don't think so!" Gai's pained voice said harshly. Gai's formed blurred a final time. "Konoha Senpuu!"

Kakashi's eyes were too slow to catch the leg that connected with his chin, and his body had no chance to react in time. He felt the wind pull at him as he was thrown into the air. He tried to bring his body back in his control, but none of his appendages seemed to be obeying his command. His vision was filled with dark spots, his body reeling. He felt a sharp spike of pain shooting through his chest. The lower half of his face had lost all feeling.

"Kage Konoha Buyou!"

Kakashi felt someone press up against his back, where his shadow would have been. A voice began whispering in his ear, barely audible over the roar of the wind. "You think you're a genius, don't you? Don't you wonder now, what's more powerful? Your genius or my will?"

Kakashi was surprised at the rawness of that voice, laced with pain, rage, and thick determination. For the first time since the match began, Kakashi slowly began to realize that he might not win. That this flamboyant, bushy-eyed boy that was currently gripping his arms just might be a wall that he couldn't knock down. The thought filled him with anger. He had come so far, had worked so hard. That he should lose now?

Drawing from a well of strength that he still had left, Kakashi brought his hands together a final time. He could feel Gai straining to get his arms apart, but he could also feel his opponent's strength waning. Kakashi's back was sticky with Gai's blood.

"Kage Bunshin no Justu!" he ground out. He poured his charka into the jutsu, and five clones sprang to life around him. They were beginning to fall back towards the stadium floor now. He had twelve seconds, maybe thirteen to break free of Gai. The clones spun in the air, a kunai glinting in each of their hands. They couldn't throw them- Gai would just twist and use Kakashi's body to block them. _One chance, _Kakashi thought. Kakashi jerked his head back, smashing the back of his skull into Gai's face. He was rewarded with a pained gasp, but the hands holding his arms did not loosen. _What's he planning on doing? _Kakashi found himself wondering. Then he thought, _doesn't matter. His left side is weak._

Suddenly the grip on his shoulders tightened impossibly. Kakashi couldn't move. A trill of fear went through him- he hadn't thought Gai would have this much left. The ground was only seconds away. Kakashi realized suddenly—it screamed in his mind _To__ late!_—that he had waited a moment too late. He moved his arms frantically in a last ditch attempt to escape, only to realize that his arms had been snared by the bandages that had been wrapped around Gai's arms. A second before he hit the ground, the five clones surrounding them threw their kunai at Gai, before they disappeared into smoke as all of them hit the ground and sent up a forbidding plume of dirt.

Kakashi had braced himself the best he could. After an initial moment of blackness as Kakashi's body struggled to recover his senses, Kakashi tried vainly to take stock of himself. The most pressing matter- could he fight- needed immediate attention. The weight against his back was gone – Kakashi realized Gai had used him to cushion himself from the fall, and had probably jumped away after they had hit the earth. He gingerly began to move portions of himself. An arm, legs, back, chest, neck, testing each for damage, all the while stretching out hesitant bits of chakra to try and detect any attacks that were sure to come after Gai had recovered himself after the impact, as Kakashi was sure that's why he hadn't immediately been put out of commission. Gai was surely as injured as he was.

He hadn't expected to be wounded this much. He had landed on one of his arms wrong, rendering it broken in several places. When Kakashi tried to move it, it didn't respond. Surely Gai's doing. It would make sense that Gai would go through such pains to be sure Kakashi could no longer perform any seals. The fight was now officially in Gai's favor. Left with just taijutsu, Kakashi felt a looming sense of frustration and bitter disappointment. The rest of his body had several broken and cracked ribs, his back kept sending odd little needles of pain down his sides, so he figured something must have been damaged there. His jaw was broken- after the kick from Gai, it had probably shattered easily from the impact with the ground. He could feel a thick, wet patch of blood from where he was sure his jaw line was gashed open. He couldn't even talk, either. His legs were thankfully unbroken, though his left one was a bit stiff. He could move adequately.

Kakashi, tensing himself for the pain, began to lift himself up off the ground. The waves of pain were intense, but he roughly shoved them aside. Suddenly, he felt a change in the air. _He's coming!_ Kakashi stumbled to his feet, reaching into his side holster and throwing a handful of shuriken out in a wide spray. The dust had yet to fully clear, and Kakashi couldn't see where Gai would be coming from. Kakashi was tense, his eyes darting from side to side, searching. His breath rushed in and out, heavily. Gai did not appear. Kakashi, thinking that perhaps he had been mistaken, that maybe he had overestimated Gai, slowly let himself relax. Standing in a battle ready defensive stance was putting a great strain on his already damaged body.

Kakashi could really do nothing but stand there as the dust slowly cleared. In the time it took to do this, Kakashi was going through a mental war. Everything was telling him that he was going to lose. There was nothing he could do. No jutsus, no physical strength strong enough to take down Gai. Even his intelligence, which was running rapid-fire through dozens of possible scenarios, was coming up short.

Suddenly, Kakashi flinched violently. A huge burst of chakra shot through his senses. Kakashi felt a trembling in his muscles that had nothing to do with his injuries. His dark eyes darted frantically through the rising dust, his breathing grew faster. God, how could Gai possibly have so much chakra left? Where was his incredible strength coming from?

The dust eventually parted, dissolving away into nothingness. Kakashi was briefly startled to realize that Gai was standing right in front of him. There was no way Kakashi could have missed him standing there, not with the way Kakashi's eyes had been darting all around. Kakashi came to the conclusion that Gai must have been moving too fast for Kakashi to follow. But that didn't seem possible– the high speed would have moved the dust particles enough for Kakashi to notice. No, Gai must have been standing around the outer edge of the dust ring. Standing there, staring at Kakashi with all the time in the world. Mocking him silently about his weakness. His failure. His loss.

The rage that Kakashi felt building startled him. It was raving through his body, screaming from his arms and legs to move forward and strike at that mocking face. Kakashi, in a moment of abject failure, listened.

There was only a second of surprise on Gai's face as Kakashi rushed forward. Kakashi failed to notice the nearly invisible trails of chakra that leapt from Gai's flesh like life-blood. Another gate opened, another doorway down a hallway of no-endings. The genius of will over the genius of blood. It was clear to every shinobi in that stadium, except for one.

Kakashi could only see the red haze. It wasn't fair, goddammit! It was never fucking fair! All his hard work, all his passion, all his superiority- _vanished._ Gone to some green bastard in an idiotic skin-tight suit. A kunai was in his hand, another explosive one this time. A specialty of his, a close combat trump card the Fourth had taught him, and one the Fourth had warned him about. _Fire consumes everything, Kakashi. If you can target that one spot, that spot of least defense and maximum damage, then victory is yours. But if you miss that spot, if you fail…_

_A true shinobi never fails. In some measure, no matter how small, there is always victory._

He hadn't understood then. He wouldn't come to understand it until so much later in life, when a tentative friendship had formed, and that ridiculous contest that was sometimes the only victory life didn't always take from him. When a wall he had sworn to crumble was now his pedestal.

For this fight, however, there was only the red in his eyes, the roar in his ears, and the warm metal beneath his fingers. He rushed forward, trying to scream his rage, but unable to due to his shattered jaw. Gai was there, forward just a few more feet, and his kunai would be buried in that green chest and victory would be his, if only he could trust his hand forward and feel that satisfying second of resistance, and then the smooth movement as the kunai penetrated skin…

Gai's form blurred, and Kakashi felt something too fast to comprehend hurl itself at him. He had a moment of clarity where he saw Gai's hand shoot forward. Kakashi felt an intense flash of knowledge- that he was feeling fear, feeling pain, feeling hatred and weakness, but most of all, there was the bitter knowledge of a battle lost. That was the worst feeling of all. He almost welcomed the hand that struck his chest, welcomed the pain that, in a split second, overloaded his consciousness, and he welcomed the bliss that was darkness.

His last image was a merely a shaky blur of green and bloody red. A few words whispered in his mind. "Konoha no renge wa nido saku."

* * *

"Gai won the match. I slowly recovered from the fight, as did he. His wounds were a bit more critical than mine. I'm sure you're aware of the effects of opening the Celestial Gates. The damage from my kunai also mangled a few muscles that probably would have been better of un-mangled, and it took him so long, and so much work to be able to move fluidly again that I felt a rather large amount of guilt, but never enough to shadow that horrible anger I held. I remember, days later after the match, shaking hands with him. I vowed, then and there, that I would get stronger. I was going to learn as many jutsus as possible, and I was going to find a way to beat Gai, and nothing was going to stand in my way." Kakashi's eyes turned downcast. "That's where I went wrong. I was so determined back then, so determined to be the best, that I was willing to do anything." He paused, the sentence feeling unfinished. Kakashi looked straight into Iruka's eyes, a sudden sad expression flicking over his face.

"Ambition is a good thing to have, Iruka, but sometimes your dreams get the better of you." Kakashi fell silent and leaned back in his chair, exhaling softly.

Iruka stared at him silently. He kept turning over things to say in his mind, but discarded each of them. He couldn't really put it into words, what he wanted to say.

First and foremost, he was amazed that Kakashi had told him that, and wondered what had brought it on. His state of mind was still a bit fuzzy, and while his intuition whispered that there had been a deeper purpose, he found that he didn't care really why Kakashi was sharing this with him. For the longest time, Naruto was the only soul in Konoha that had, in some measure, deeply confided in Iruka. If anything, Iruka was feeling flattered to be on the receiving end of such a story. The mystery that surrounded Kakashi had cracked for a moment, letting Iruka find out a little bit about the Jounin under the mask, and Iruka let himself feel an indescribable emotion. Gratitude, perhaps. Iruka began to sit up farther in the bed, a surprising warmth flooding through him. Suddenly he flinched and halted, and vibrant flash of something jumped across his vision. _That was all a lie,_ it said. The thought was like a blow to the stomach. So unexpected that for a moment he though he had imagined it, despite the ache in his head that reinforced its reality. Shaking his head slightly to rid himself of sudden hollow feeling in the pit of his stomach, Iruka turned a grateful gaze to Kakashi. He felt ready now, ready to share something of his own, and the words bubbled up from his chest, whether he really wanted to say them or not.

* * *

A brief side note. According to my Naruto knowledge, Gai and Kakashi are the same age at the beginning of the manga. They're both 26. Now, we all know that Kakashi became a Chuunin when he was six. My knowledge ends at knowing when Gai became a Chuunin, so I just had them both become one at the same time. I'm not sure quite yet what higher purpose that serves, but _it seemed like a good idea at the time_… and 

Edit: 2-22-05: My Naruto knowledge has increased to find out that Gai, in fact, did not become a Chuunin at the same time as Kakashi. However, I'm sticking to my version because it's a damn good plot device. Yes, you know it is.

Konoha no renge wa nido saku is Gai's phrase, which can be translated to mean 'The Lotus of Konoha blooms twice." If you've seen the anime, you'll understand.


	10. Shidare

_Chapter 10: Shidare_

**I**ruka stood in the shadows, his body hunched down and trembling. It was there, the Kyubi. Its low growl echoed around him, a rolling thunder that sent chills rocketing up his spine, even though the fox was nowhere near him. It was off in the forest, but its growl reached every corner of the village.

"Mother..." he whispered and then shook his head fiercely, silently berating himself for acting like a little child. His mother wasn't here; she was out fighting alongside Iruka's father. She wasn't hiding in the shadows, trembling in fear. Iruka clenched his hands into fists, a little too hard, blood welling out beneath the broken skin. Iruka slowly opened his hands and stared at the marred palms. Little drops of blood sat there, shining in the dusk light. Resolutely he wiped the blood off on his shirt, stepping out from the shadows and letting the dying light from the sun fall across him.

"Father…" he whispered, this time without the note of desperation in his voice. He though of his father, so strong and so gentle. He loved his father dearly, more than anyone else. People always commented on how he looked so much like his parents. He had his mothers round face, her mouth, her nose, her chin. The only feature he inherited from his father was his eyes. They were a deep brown, dark and full. They conveyed his every emotion, and actually ranged in color from a dark stormy brown to a light creamy tan color. He loved his eyes, and how they seemed to reflect how he felt. They could be burning hot, or freezing cold. They told everything, saw everything. And that suited him.

He ran through the village, past the shops and the homes, past Ichiraku, where he and his father ate together, past the academy, past every empty and desolate street devoid of life. Everyone in the village was hiding or fighting. He could see the tiny slits in the drawn curtains where the curious children stared at him as he ran by. He wanted to scream at them for being weak and hiding, but he couldn't fault them. Not when his whole body was trembling, his eyes wide and staring in fear. Yet, he still ran forward, closer to the feeling of foreboding in the distance. The place where the smell of blood was coming from.

He could smell it on the sharp breeze that wafted through the empty streets. If he thought about it, he could almost taste the bitter rust in his mouth.

He turned left onto the next street and ran a little slower. The forest was just down the road. He slowed to a jog, his body still not able to run full speed for very long. He stared down at his shadow, barely able to make out the outline of it. The sun had almost set, throwing everything into a pale red that almost seemed to … glow. Shaking his head to rid himself of the sudden dull throb he was feeling, he slowed to a halt, then froze as he felt the hairs on the back of his neck rise.

Iruka slowly raised his eyes to meet those of the Kyubi. There it was, towing over the forest, making him feel so small and insignificant that he longed to just turn away, run back to his house, where he would hide, waiting for his parents to come home.

The Kyubi's eyes were wide and staring, never blinking. They seemed to stare directly at him, into him, but he knew they were focused on the army of Shinobi at its feet. Steeling himself with a deep shuddering breath, he started forward again, straight towards the demon and his parents.

He ran straight into the forest, his steps swift and sure. He had grown up in the forest. He was as comfortable in them as he was in the city. Shinobi of the Leaf Village were raised that way. He ran straight into the heart of the forest, ignoring the cramp in his side, ignoring the horrible headache he was getting, and overlooking the fact that the sun was no longer visible in the sky, yet the entire forest seemed to shimmer red.

A loud roar caused him to miss his step and forced him to frantically grab for a branch to keep his balance. He shot his head upwards to stare at the Kyubi. The demon roared again and lunged downward, its jaws wide and gaping. From his close vantage point, Iruka could see the rows of razor sharp and gleaming teeth. Involuntarily he shrank back, fear seeping into his body and causing him to tremble.

The Kyubi roared in rage as its jaws mashed against an invisible wall, which flared a violent purple wherever the demon touched.

Gnashing its teeth in rage, the Kyubi reared back, its tails coming in close to its body, where they stood straight up for a second, shaking, before resuming their thrashing. A loud humming filled the forest, and Iruka could see the demon fox quivering, as if ready to pounce. Iruka watched as a very faint red glow outlined the fox, and couldn't help but cry out as the fox let out another earth-shattering roar and lunged forward to meet the resistance from the barrier. The Kyubi strained forward, its low growl rolling like thunder, and suddenly, the barrier shattered.

Iruka felt a wrench as the jaws of the demon dived to the ground, in the midst of the fighting Shinobi. As close as he was getting, he heard the screams of dozens of Shinobi as they were town apart in the jaws of the Kyubi. Iruka felt tears spring into his eyes, and he hastily wiped them away, but could still feel them burning. He had to find his parents! Some part of him knew who helped with that barrier Jutsu. His mother had a violet chakra, or at least, it seemed that way to him. She reminded him of violets. Sweet, beautiful.

Iruka moved forward now, moving from tree to tree, until he caught sight of the clearing where the Shinobi were gathered. He paused, just out of sight, and stared at the clearing, his eyes quickly passing over the increasingly large number of corpses. He scanned the crowd, staring intently at the faces. He knew some of the Shinobi he saw, mostly friends of his parents. He passed over face after face, but did not immediately spot his mother and father. It was only after he had looked over the majority of the crowd did anxiety begin to set in.

Frantically he glanced over the crowd again, hoping beyond hope that he had missed them in the dozens of faces. His eyes froze in their scanning, and Iruka felt himself release a breath he hadn't been aware he was holding. There was his father, kneeling on the ground and tending to a wounded Shinobi. With a start, Iruka recognized him as Anotsu, his academy instructor. He recognized the unruly shock of hair, which was now matted with blood.

Iruka watched his father tend to the Shinobi, as all the ninja around him were attacking the demon fox, the air of the clearing fairly glowing with the flurry of jutsus. He absentmindedly admired the calm his father showed, and the single-mindedness he exhibited as he quickly and efficiently fixed bandages onto the bleeding Anotsu. Suddenly, his father whipped his head up, then screamed "Here it comes!" His hands flew together and formed the Barrier Jutsu so rapidly Iruka had trouble following it.

Surprised at the quickness in which his father went from treating the wounded to shouting a warning and acting, it took a moment for Iruka to whip his head up just in time to catch a flash of white teeth, and the ground around him exploded. Iruka felt himself lifted from the ground and flung backward with force. He slammed into a tree, the frail wood cracking and splintering as his back collided with it. He felt a sharp cry of pain escape from his lips, then he sank to the ground, the world around him fading into a hazy darkness.

Iruka lay there for a few minutes, dazed, before he slowly lifted his head. His body went rigid with shock as the first thing he laid his eyes on was a bloody and mangled corpse at his feet. His stomach protested at the bloody mess, and Iruka was forced to close his eyes and clench his teeth together. Part of him was glad the man –or woman- at his feet was unrecognizable. Then his eyes flared open. His father!

He forced his eyes to look to the spot where his father had previously stood. Eyes watering, from both the pain and the thought of what he might find, Iruka slowly gazed at the rubble that remained.

The ground was churned into hunks of grass, trees, dirt, and… people. Dozens of Shinobi lay mangled, butchered, and dead. Jounin, Chunnin, both laid scattered, so easily scattered like leaves in the wind. Iruka could feel his heart beating wildly in his chest. His breath stilled with a gasp as his gaze finally fell on his father.

A sob tore through his body. He screwed his eyes shut and looked away.

-_no__, no that isn't true, that isn't right, he was there just a second ago_-

More sobs wracked his body, the brief image he saw searing through his mind. His father, or what was left of him, lay in a pool of blood and gore, his body torn and mangled, his sightless eyes staring silently into the night sky, devoid of the laughter and life that had always lit them. Now, he was just gray, a silent devoid gray and the mere sight of it made him cry out in pain and anguish.

The Kyubi above him roared, and to Iruka it seemed like laughter and triumph. A rage overtook him, a white-hot burning rage that filled his veins with anger and malice, a rage that threw away all other thought. Without thinking, he rose to his feet, his hand fumbling for a kunai, which lay half buried in the dirt at his side. The only thought that entered his mind was to attack that fox, hurt the thing that cause him so much pain. His fingers wrapped around the kunai, he could feel his fingers throbbing from his tight hold on it.

-_how could you, how can you, that was my_ father-

The next thing he knew, he was surrounded by shapes. Shapes that were people, people in animal masks and black clothes. The Anbu squads had arrived. Iruka was struck by how… _deadly _they seemed. They were silent, not a sound betraying their presence. They stood confidently, standing straight and defiant. Staring at them, and the promise of death that seemed to emanate from them, Iruka felt the anger slowly fade away, the kunai falling from nerveless fingers to land on the ground, which was nothing more than blood and dirt mingled into rough piles. A small sob escaped from his mouth, and one of the Anbu members turned around, the animal mask fixing its gaze on his small form, emotionless. Iruka stared back dully. The member said something he couldn't hear and broke away from the group, striding towards him. Iruka slowly sank to his knees, the tears flowing unheeded down his cheeks.

"Father…" he whispered. The Anbu bent down, the mask of a raccoon inches away from his face.

"Where do you live?" A man's voice asked him. Iruka stared down at the ground, at the mixture of blood and earth, and couldn't find the words to answer. He felt a gentle hand touch his chin and lift his face up into the moonlight, where another slowly traced the scar across his face.

"You're the Umino kid." The man stated. Iruka could only stare dumbly back. He didn't answer.

The hands fell away from his face and grasped him around the middle. He felt himself lifted into the air and tossed carelessly over the man's shoulder. Iruka didn't make a sound. The Anbu member dashed away and Iruka closed his eyes, feeling the cold wind brush gently against his cheeks, playing with the loose strands of hair that fell around his face. He lost track of time, and suddenly he was at his house, in his room, where the Anbu member set him down in the middle of the floor.

"Stay." The man ordered. He stared at Iruka a moment, as if sizing him up, then bent down again so he was eye to eye with him.

"Thank you." Iruka murmured, finally raising his eyes to stare at the mask. A gloved hand reached up and grasped the bottom of the mask and slowly lifted it up, revealing the face of an older man, who stared without expression down at Iruka.

"My name is Kinobu. I am a friend of your mothers. My deepest sympathies, for she fell in battle." Without another word, the mask was put back in place and the Anbu member was gone.

Iruka sat alone on the cold hard floor of his parents bedroom, his cheeks wet with new and old tears, his whole body aching. He could feel the numerous bleeding cuts on his body, the pain shoved somewhere at the back of his mind. He sat there, in complete silence, not moving, staring blankly ahead. Thoughts flew through his mind. None of it seemed real to him. His clenched his hands into fists. Why was he being so weak? Why was he always so weak…

He pushed himself onto his feet and stumbled towards his bed. He made it most of the way before the head pains hit him. Sharp ice cold needles of pain seemed to imbed themselves in his temples and with a low cry of pain he crumpled to the floor. Everything slid out of focus, wavering between darkness and light.

"Mom…" he whispered, before the room around him vanished. He found himself back in the forest, standing in that clearing of blood and earth. The Kyubi growled above him, but he wasn't afraid. This wasn't real. None of it was real. He turned his gaze upward, seeking out those hate filled eyes that he had met once before. The eyes of a blood-hungry fox. Brown and red clashed, liked the blood and earth they both stood on. It seemed somehow… right, that he was here with the fox. He could feel the hate welling up inside of himself like some sort tangible thing, a dark inky blackness that cried out for him to attack the fox, while his heart told him that he would never win. Not that way. He was torn between two worlds, two possible solutions. There was white and black, and a welcoming, warm gray that seemed so familiar. Should he attack the fox? Something told him that he could destroy it if he wanted to. And it seemed as if he could feel a strange power welling up inside him, a power that didn't feel right. It felt dangerous, wrong. Suddenly, before he realized it, bloody tendrils were reaching for the fox, wrapping around its neck and squeezing, and it was coming from him, he couldn't stop it.

_Stop!_ He cried. _Please, stop!_ The tendrils were wrapping around the fox, latching onto its legs and tails, squeezing.

He opened his mouth to cry out again, but what emerged caught him by surprise. The wail of a baby seemed to shatter the world around him, a single cry that seemed so out of place, yet so right at the same time. And there was so much emotion and feeling and pictures in that single cry that Iruka found himself frozen in place. He stood there for just a moment, before a brilliant blue seemed to rush past him. He felt great power in this blue, combined with the piercing wail, the blue flashing so brightly that Iruka longed to cover his eyes from it, and his ears were ringing. When at last the beautiful light died away, the fox was gone. He found himself back in his room, laying on the floor. He stared up at the ceiling for what seemed like hours, before working up enough effort to drag his body to the bed and collapse on it, where he promptly fell into a troubled sleep. He didn't wake for nearly a full day, and when he awoke, it was to an empty house, filled with confusion and loneliness.

* * *

… dramatic pause … cue orchestra

And THUS! The great Delas bowed, blowing kisses to all her loyal reviewers, promising wealth and KakaIru beyond their wildest dreams, and LO! The heavens themselves wept to see her depart… and FOREASMUCH, Delas said something witty in her final moments, and the masses cheered and cried for more…

Review?

(this chapter had yet to be edited. therefore, it is rather short compared to the rest, and the quality is a bit lacking, in my opinion. expect to see this chapter redone soon or changed completely. P)


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